Changed
by iamzachh
Summary: Liam is just an average 18 year old guy - until the dead starts rising. He will have to struggle to keep his life, and with it his humanity. [All OC]
1. Turned

Explosions. Screams. I hear running. It's me running. I'm panting, I can't go on much farther. I stop. I give in. Then it ends.

"Liam. Hey, Liam. Wake up. Wake up. Seriously Liam. Wake up before 10 for once in your life. It's important."

The nightmare continues, I guess. I manage to pry my eyes open and look up at whoever the hell woke me up. It's Ryan, my older brother.

"What do you want?" I say groggily, before rolling over onto my side and pulling my bedsheets up to my face.

"We're taking a little vacation. There's some disease spreading across the state or something. We're supposed to go to a quarantine zone in Fort Benning."

That wakes me up, I pull the bedsheets of my face and sit up, looking at my brother. "Wait what? Disease? When the hell did this start?"

Ryan rolls his eyes. "This isn't one of your stupid government conspiracies, calm down. They've been trying to contain it for a week but it got out. Nothing major they say."

"Whatever." I say. "When do we leave?"

"Dad said after lunch."

I look at the clock on my bedside table.

"What the hell, it's only 9am! Why did you wake me up now!?"

"So I could do this." Ryan smiles deviously, and a moment later I find a bucket of water dumped over my head.

Asshat.

As I eat my sandwich, I look out the dining room window and watch an old couple with limps walking down the street.

"Isn't that just sweet?" My mother asks, clearing Ryan's and my dad's dishes from the table.

"Not really, Paula." my father answers, looking up from his newspaper and out the window as well. "They look half dead."

"Bruce!" mom chastises him. "Can't you say one nice thing about anyone?"

Ryan snickers from his room.

"I heard that!" mom called up to him.

Dad ignores mom's question and asks his own. "So is everyone packed? The city gave us a list of what we should bring. 'Water, food, extra clothes, medicine, weapons'-"

"Weapons!?" my mother interjects. "Why would we need to bring weapons to a military base!?"

"You didn't let me finish." dad says, slightly annoyed. "It says here that they're for personal protection, in case any criminals try to jump us on the way there. Besides, I'm not leaving my babies here while we're away, what if they get stolen?"

Mom sighs, looking defeated. "Fine, bring your guns. Liam, go get your brother." she says, turning to me.

"HEY RYAN! GET DOWN HERE OR YOU'RE BEING LEFT BEHIND!" I shout as loud as I can. It looks like the old guy taking a walk heard me, he looks toward the house.

Ryan jumps down the stairs, backpack over his shoulders. "I'm ready! Let's head to Fort Benning. I bet they have really cool guns there."


	2. Escape

"The highway is jammed. This sucks." I moan. We have been in our car, stuck on the highway, for over 10 minutes. Completely unmoving. People had begun to exit their vehicles and started to leave a few minutes ago, but of course dad just insisted we wait.

"See?" Dad says, triumphant. "They coming back, like a horde."

They don't seem to be walking right. Kind of a slow, dreamy pace. A lot of them seem to be limping, I notice.

Suddenly, the group begins to converge on a group of cars ahead of us.

"What the hell are they doing?" Ryan demands, sitting next to me in the backseat.

"There's so many of them..." my mother says, amazed. "What could they possibly want?"

"I dunno." I say. "But they're really creeping me out, that looks illegal."

I hear bumps on the trunk behind me. I look over my shoulder to see the most horrifying human face, if you could even call it human, pressed up against the glass.

Ryan and I stare in complete shock at it. At some point, our parents notice and begin panicking, but all I can focus on are its features.

Firstly, this person appears to have been rotting for days. Their skin is caked in dirt and is peeling in some places. Their hair is falling out in clumps, their eyes are glazed over, a glossy white state of... death?. The mouth is pulled into a grotesque snarl as they claw at the window, more like it approach from behind it.

I snap out of my trance to hear my father yelling at Ryan and I to grab guns.

"THAT IS NOT A HUMAN!" he roars, as my mother sobs next to him.

"Maybe it won't hurt us!" she says, choking back horrified tears.

Ryan sits in shock next to me, staring at the creature. As I pull a gun from the bag my father brought, the glass behind me breaks. I feel shards hit my head and back.

And suddenly, Ryan is gone. Pulled out of the car by whatever this thing is and its friends.

My father, roaring in anger, throws open his door holding his pistol. I can hardly see what is going on. The things look up from Ryan, who is on the ground behind us, and slowly shuffle toward my father.

Quickly, he puts bullets into their chests, and swears as they recoil, but do not die. As they approach him, he puts a final bullet into the closest one's head.

It falls limply to the ground.

Recovering from the shock of having Ryan pulled from me, I get out of the car holding my pistol to try and retrieve my screaming mother.

"SHOOT THEM IN THE HEAD!" my father bellows. "IN THE HEAD!"

Another turns toward me, its smell overwhelming now that I am outside. Like dead animal. I put a bullet in it's head and move to the front door.

"Mom. Mom" I say, trying to calm her, to no avail. "We need to go! We need to get Ryan and go! These things will rip us apart!"

The gunshots next to me stop. My father has killed all of the creatures surrounding him. He looks limply at the ground. I take my mother's hand and lead her to my father, and immediately regret it.

On the ground, where Ryan should have been, is an unrecognizable hunk of meat, with what appears to be intestines strewn around the ground. I say hunk of meat literally, because there are no limbs attached to it. Ryan is very clearly dead.

"They... they killed him?" I ask, even though I know the answer.

My mother begins to sob again.

My father looks up at us. Tears stream down his face. He points behind us, down a hill. People, or whatever those other things are, are streaming down the hill and running into houses, seemingly for refuge.

"Paula. Liam. We need to go.

* * *

**AN: The action and drama begins here. Hope you enjoy!**


	3. Found

Guns drawn, my father, mother and I move down the hill and into the neighbourhood. It seems like it was a typical suburban neighbourhood. But it's anything but right now. Gun shots ring out from everywhere. I hear the screams of the living and moans of the dead in the distance.

"Look." my father whispers, looking at my mother and I. He points toward a group of people running into a house nearby. "We can go with them. Maybe get to Fort Benning."

I nearly forgot about Fort Benning, the reason we left town in the first place. The reason my brother got killed in the car as well. I guess that this is what the government tried to get us there for. Seems like it's out of control now.

"There's too many of those things to take them head on." I say, looking around for more of the creatures. "We need to hide for now, we won't make it to Fort Benning if we leave now."

I notice my mother choking back sobs behind me, I look back at her. Her eyes are red from crying and she holds her gun limply in front of her.

She nods her head and wipes her eyes. "Yes." she says finally. "We need to wait until these... things... pass. Those people might be able to help us."

"So it's settled." my father says, clearly avoiding looking at mom. "Lets go."

We move quietly and quickly through the street toward the house we saw the other group enter. The screams and gunshots seem to lessen even as we close the short distance toward the house.

We walk up a path toward the door, and knock. We wait a few seconds. No answer. We knock again. No answer.

"Are they even alive?" I whisper.

"Yeah. We're alive." a male voice says through the door, startling me. The man opens the door.

Behind him, stand a girl and three other guys. They all look college aged, around the same age as my brother. The girl moves next to the guy and wraps her arms around him.

"Well. Come on in." the guy says. We enter, he motions toward a couch close to the door. Another man closes the door, carefully latching it.

"My name is Bruce." my father says. "This is my wife Paula, and my son Liam." he adds, motioning toward us.

"Name's Riley." says the guy who opened the door for us. He's pretty tall and lanky with shaggy brown hair and striking blue eyes.

"This little lady here is Holly." he says, looking at the girl who appears to be his girlfriend. She smiles at us. She's a petite girl with long blonde hair and sparkling hazel eyes.

The guy who closed the door behind us speaks up, in a gravelly low voice. "I'm Travis." He's a pretty big guy, with dark brown skin with hair and eyes to match.

The two other men look identical. Short brown hair with pale blue eyes, both extremely pale. The only difference is that one has a small mole on his cheek. "I'm James." says the one with the mole. "Call me Noah." the other says.

My father, mother and I remove our backpacks, each filled with various foodstuffs, drinks, and a few guns.

"I'll take those." says Holly, relieving us from our bags, and walking into a different room, what appears to be the kitchen.

Riley shoos his friends from the room. He is clearly a natural leader.

He looks directly at my father, who looks back. They have the same look in their eyes. A certain gleam.

"So. How exactly do you get to Fort Benning from here?" Riley says, smirking.

A collective groan fills the room.

* * *

**AN: My apologies if you tried reading the chapter before I resubmitted it. Take an internet hug as compensation for the eye bleed.**


	4. Survive

My mother and I sit in the kitchen with Holly as she heats up two cans of soup for dinner. I can hear my dad in the living room with the other guys discussing how to get to Fort Benning.

"Shitty situation we have ourselves in, don't we?" asks Holly without turning around from the cans on the stove.

"Yeah." I say, filling in for my still upset mother. "Whatever this is, I hope it blows over soon, those things are not human."

Holly turns around, a shocked expression etched on her face.

"You're wrong." she says, beginning to shake. "Sure, they're not humans now. But they were... before."

I turn to my mom, and she looks back at me, confused as I am.

"What do you mean?" I demand. "They aren't human, have you not seen them?"

Holly shakes her head. "You're not getting it. They were human. Like you and me. But when you get bit by one of them... you change. You get really sick and you die, then you change, if they haven't torn you to shreds first I guess. Or if you're lucky, you die without getting sick. As long as you're bit."

And it hits me.

Ryan will become one of those things. He will become the thing that killed him. He'll drag his limbless self along somehow, trying to kill people like he was killed.

And it hits me again.

He's dead. He's never coming back. I will never hear my brother speak again, he'll never tease me again. He won't get to go back to college, he won't get to watch me graduate high school this year. What's worse, is that I would be one of those things if I had sat on that side of the car.

Holly is choking back tears now. Maybe she lost someone too.

Later, I sit in the living room with the rest of the group. It must be close to 8 or 9 at night, because the sun is beginning to set. Riley and dad have been telling us their plan to get to Fort Benning.

"We need to be fast and we need to be quiet." finishes Riley, looking serious for once. "Those things are relentless."

James looks unsure. "You expect us to see where we're going now? Sun's is going down. I think it's safer to stay here for the night." Holly and Noah nod in agreement.

"It's safe here." says my mom, staring at the ground. "There's no point in leaving yet."

My dad nods. "Yeah, thats sounds right. Those things obviously can't see us, did you see those eyes? They have to smell or hear us, and they'd have the advantage in the night."

"Then it's settled." confirms Riley. "We'll stay here for the night. Sleep tight, folks."

I share a bed with Noah, because there is limited space in the house. My parents share a bed, Riley and Holly sleep together, and James takes the couch, claiming it looked comfy.

Noah speaks up for the first time.

"Do you think this is going to get better?" he whispers.

"Hell if I know." I reply. I feel like an asshole for acting so cold, but he asked a stupid question. "But what I do know is that it has to be safe at Fort Benning." I add, hoping to ease the blow of my previous statement.

"Yeah." he answers. "I'm just nervous y'know? My girlfriend went off on some road trip with her sister, and I haven't heard from her. I worry for James too. I don't want to end up like those things."

I know that I feel the same way as Noah. I'm scared. I'm horrified for my parents, I'm more than depressed for Ryan, but I know that I want to live.

"We'll make it." I assure Noah. "Us, your brother, my parents, Holly, Riley, and Travis. We can survive. I know it."

But I don't know it.


	5. Thieves

"Rise and shine." I feel a hand nudging my shoulder.

It's Riley. Somehow this scene reminds me of the morning before, when everything seemed normal.

"Noah's already up." he says. "I left you because you looked so peaceful."

"Thanks." I say, a little shocked by Riley's kindness.

Travis enters the room, a towel wrapped around his waist. He's clearly frustrated.

"Water isn't working." he says, throwing down what looks like a loofah.

I pull myself out of bed, and try not to laugh at the silly argument starting between Riley and Travis.

In the kitchen, Holly and my mother managed to find a box of cereal and milk, with several bowls. My mom looks content for the first time in a while. It looks like she's found an unlikely friend in Holly.

James sits across from me at the table, shoveling cereal into his mouth.

"I feel kinda bad for stealing these people's things." he says with a laugh. There's a photo frame on the table, what looks like a young couple with a baby. I wonder where they are.

"I don't." says Riley, next to me. "This cereal is amazing. Besides, they might not be needing it anymore so why let it go to waste?"

Noah, Travis, and my dad are in the other room, preparing supplies for the long walk to Fort Benning.

Soon, we all gather in the living room, where my dad goes over the simple plan once more. Then, he hands us each a bag and pistol for safety. And we set out.

"Remember." Riley reminds us as we sneak up the hill next to the house toward the highway. "If you see one, signal. Don't make noise. If we stay quiet we'll get there intact."

Riley, James and my father take the front of the pack. Holly and my mother take the middle. I move in the back, with Noah and Travis.

We move quietly and smoothly between the cars, which now look abandoned. I look behind us in an effort to spot our car, but I see nothing.

Suddenly, Holly raises her right hand and abruptly stops walking. The sign for a creature sighting.

But it isn't one of the dead, it's a living woman. She sees us and cries out, running to us with a slight limp.

Riley keeps his gun on her as she approaches. "Who are you?" he whispers sharply. "And be quiet." he says.

"I'm sorry." the woman says, ignoring Riley's command, in a raspy voice. "My name is Whitney. I've been looking for people since yesterday. Are you going somewhere? Take me with you. Where are we going? Please!"

Whitney continues to blubber and beg. She seems like she's in desperate help. We could easily be in her position.

Riley sighs. "Yeah, you can come." he whispers. "Go in the back, those guys will watch you, won't you guys?."

I nod, exchanging looks with Noah and Travis.

Suddenly, I hear moans. I look behind myself again, and I see them. The dead, so many of them, lurching toward us.

"Riley... dad... look."

They turn around, their eyes widening.

"Shit!" hisses my father. "Forget the plan. Run!"

And we break into a sprint.

* * *

**AN: This chapter is a little short. Sorry about that.**


	6. Burden

Whitney rests on the side of a tree. It's not without reason, we just managed to outrun a horde of the dead.

She coughs viciously. Noah sits next to her, giving her water and making sure that she feels okay.

Meanwhile, my father and Riley argue over what to do next.

"We can't just let her hold us up! We hardly know who she is and now she's a burden. What's the point?" Riley hisses.

"She's a person too, you idiot." snaps my father. "What if that was you? That could be us. We need to stick together, not pull apart."

Whitney's head bobs a little bit, and she suddenly slumps over.

"It's probably hunger." says Noah. "Combined with that run, she's probably really tired."

"Whatever." says Riley. "Just watch her."

I look down at Whitney and notice something on her leg. Is that a scrape? No, they're not circular like that.

My mind is reeling, I've heard of this before. And I remember, but it's too late.

Because Whitney wasn't tired, she was bit. She died right next to Noah.

I barely have time to shout his name before Whitney turns, and sinks her teeth into his throat.

Noah screams, and falls to the ground, Whitney on top of him. James screams in horror at the sight of his brother being attacked, and rushes over.

Whitney turns her attention to James, and takes a chunk from his arm before Travis puts a bullet in her head.

Noah is clearly dead at this point. His blood covers James and Whitney, caking the grass in a red colour. Another gunshot, this time for Noah, comes from Riley's gun.

"I couldn't let him turn." Riley mumbles to himself, shocked at what just happened in front of him.

"He's bit!" screeches Holly. "Oh god, what do we do, what do we do!?" she throws herself into my mothers arms and begins crying.

"Everyone quiet down!" whispers Travis. "More will hear. That's not what we need right now."

"Maybe there's a cure at Fort Benning!" my mother says, a desperate look in her eyes. She has seen this play out before.

My father nods. "Good idea, Paula. That's the first place where they would take it. A military base where it could be easily distributed."

"If it even exists." adds Travis, looking away from James' bite. "Also, someone bandage that shit please."

"Then we have to hurry." I say, ignoring Travis. "He's running out of time."

My mother nears James, a small first aid kit in her hand. "I'll patch you up James. Don't worry, it won't take long."

He groans in response, looking back at Noah.

"Can we hurry, please?" asks Holly, trying not to cry. "I don't want to see any more of this shit. I want to be safe."

We all want to be safe.

* * *

James is really slowing us down. Since he was bit, we've moved half as fast as we did before. Even Whitney, who hid her bite from us, was faster than him.

Luckily, we've moved into an open section of the highway, where the suburbs on the side have been replaced by open field.

Unluckily, abandoned cars sit bumper to bumper. This slows us down even more, we have to be cautious that those things don't pop out and kill anyone else.

Riley had shot Noah in the head before he turned. It was the humane thing to do, I guess. His greatest fear was becoming one of those things. It felt right to keep him from that. I feel especially shitty about Noah's death because I had promised him that the whole group would make it to Fort Benning.

But I need to put that behind me if I want to make it out of this, or get James out of this. Our demeanour is rushed now, because we know that James' only hope is Fort Benning.

James' arms are around the shoulders of Travis and I. His bandage rubs on the back of my neck and I find myself praying that this shit isn't transmitted by touch. We now move in the middle, with my mother and Holly taking our place in the back, my father and Riley still in the front.

I try making small talk with Travis, but it's like talking to a wall. The guy either gives one word responses or short sentences. He's a total mystery and he probably knows it.

Distracted by my futile attempt at conversation, I did not notice the transport truck turned on its side in front of us, effectively blocking this side of highway.

"Well shit." says my father.

"Yeah, shits right!" exclaims Riley, seemingly snapped out of his shock. "Look behind you!"

It's the horde from before. The horde that we barely escaped from before Whitney died and took Noah with her.

Frantically looking around, my father spots a large, mud-filled ditch that divides the highway in half.

"Get in the ditch!" hisses my father. "We can't outrun these things, get ready to shoot!"

There must be at least 20 of them. Were they following us? How did they know we were here?

"Hurry! We have to get James down there!" I shout to Travis.

James is limping slower than before, and we lag behind the rest.

"Paula. Holly." my father says, looking the two women in the eyes, as Travis and I arrive with James. He points to the other side of the ditch, where the other half of the highway is. "You two need to get James over there. Kill any of those things that get close."

Without a response, the women begin to drag the nearly lifeless James through the wide ditch, trudging through mud and water.

In maybe thirty seconds, they are on us. A constant stream of our bullets fly into the undead, sometimes a stray may hit a shoulder or stomach, but that doesn't seem to bother them.

The situation seems under control, until of course it isn't.

As the last creature in front of us falls, a scream comes from the other side of the highway. A smaller group of the undead have converged on the girls and James.

Holly and my mother try their best to shoot them, to no avail. Nicked shoulders, and complete misses is all that they seem to get.

The rest of us are sprinting to get to them, but the bog in the wide ditch trips us up and slows us down. Riley falls in and loses his gun.

I watch in terror as the creatures close in on my mother, Holly, and the nearly dead James.

Just as the situation seems hopeless, a different sound of gunfire starts. Extremely fast and coordinated, the undead surrounding the girls and James suddenly collapse. Out of the forest, comes a new group of men. They wear some type of riot gear and carry automatic weapons.

They're military.

The girls begin to cry. James weakly laughs in relief. Riley retrieves his gun from the bog, and the rest of us reach the military men.

"My name is Sargent Dawson." says the biggest and bulkiest man of the group. "You civilians need any help?"


	7. Loss

"So... you call them walkers?" I ask Dawson.

"Yeah. Because they're dead and they walk. Dead people aren't supposed to do that. It's not complicated." he shoots back, looking ahead.

Since the military rescued us from that group of… walkers… they have been telling us everything they know about them, while escorting us to Fort Benning. They have no idea how it started. It isn't just in Georgia, it's all over the United States. They've been bringing civilians from Fort Benning to Atlanta via helicopter. Columbus, where we live, is completely overrun according to Dawson. In one day. It's a very situation even to him, which doesn't put us at ease.

"From what we know, it's some type of disease." Dawson says. "We've known it's been around for maybe a week, but it didn't get bad until a couple of days ago."

"And once your bit you have the disease?" asks Holly, looking back at James, who is still struggling to stay upright.

"That's right." Dawson answers. "We have researchers at the CDC in Atlanta and at Benning working on a cure, but little progress has been made."

That sounds like James will die for sure. I look wistfully at him. His clothes are filthy from the mud, and his hair is matted. He is getting paler by the minute and his eyes have a blank look that I don't find comforting. Did Whitney look like that? I can't remember. We were almost killed thinking that we could find a cure, but now that we know this it seems like James is pretty much dead already.

"Then what do we do with him?" demands my father, clearly talking about James.

"Well, we wait it out I guess."

"Wait it out!?" Riley snaps. "That's my friend you're talking about, not some sick animal!"

"Hey, we just saved your lives, asshole." a soldier next to me grunts. "The least you could do is shut up and leave it to us."

"Hey, shut the hell up Connor." Dawson says to the soilder. "Cant you see-"

"Leave it to you!?" Riley explodes, interrupting Dawson. It looks like he's moved from shock to just anger. "I just watched my friend have his fucking throat ripped out by those things! Where were you then? And now I have to watch another friend die right in front of me! Like you military idiots are doing anything but jerking each other off in your nice, safe, fort while innocent people are being slaughtered by those things!. You have no idea what we've seen! I'm not leaving anything to you."

Everyone stops walking. The soldiers stare at Riley with wide eyes.

For the first time, Riley breaks down. Watching his friend die took a huge toll on him, like Ryan's death on me. I don't think it will ever go away. Him and Holly embrace tightly, both sobbing.

And suddenly I start crying too. Crying for my brother, who I know could survive this longer than I could. He never got the chance to know what was happening. What he would become. And my parents are sobbing and we all hug.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Travis. He stands alone, but I know he's upset, like us. He had a family too. At least I have the comfort of knowing where mine are, he doesn't. I see James, leaning on Travis. He's condemned to death, but he doesn't cry. Maybe he's accepted it. Maybe he holds on to a hope that he can find his twin in a better place. But I won't accept it. I won't die lying down. I'll go out fighting.

I'll go out fighting.

* * *

We continue walking now in complete silence. I feel a sort of relief wash over me, somehow all that crying helped me deal with what's happened the last few days. Screw whoever said that it's a weakness. I feel stronger. I can tell the others feel it too. Holly and Riley hold each other, their heads held high. My mother has actually stopped shaking for once and my father looks serene and thoughtful, a refreshing change from his usually bashful persona.

"I have a family too." says Dawson, finally breaking the silence. "Three kids. They're at Benning. My wife left us a year ago."

"I'm so sorry." my mother says blankly, looking at him. "At least you have your kids."

Dawson looks shocked. He shakes it off.

Buildings come into view. Both sides of the highway are occupied by soldiers leading into what looks like a regular neighbourhood. In the distance I see larger buildings, and regular people milling around behind the soldiers.

We're here.


	8. Pretend

"We're taking your friend to the hospital. Come on." says Connor. Once we arrived at Fort Benning, Sgt. Dawson was called away by other soldiers. He left Connor to show us around and he insisted on bringing James to the hospital first.

James still needs to lean on Travis and I just to walk, so we progress slowly as usual. A group of kids pass by, and I can almost feel their eyes on the back of my neck. We probably don't look too pretty.

"Move along." Connor instructs, raising his gun a little bit. The kids scream and run off, and Connor laughs a little.

When we enter the hospital, we find a scene that looks almost too regular. I see doctors and nurses milling around, regular people wearing those ugly gowns.

It's a nice, modern looking hospital. It is illuminated brightly and smells of hand sanitizer. I hate that smell.

We move toward an attendant sitting behind a desk reading a book.

Connor knocks on the desk and the attendant looks up. "Get me Caroline please, these people need help."

The attendant nods and presses a button, turning on a PA system.

"Dr. Tang, come down to the lobby. Dr. Tang."

A minute later, an Asian woman in a lab coat followed closely by another Asian man and black woman enter the lobby.

She sees the bandage on James' arms and her eyes widen. The trio approaches us at a rushed pace.

"My name is Caroline Tang. I'm a scientist from the CDC here at Fort Benning." the Asian woman says. "These are my colleagues David Shen and Melanie Williams."

"Hello everyone." says my father. "My name is Bruce. These two are my wife and son, Paula and Liam."

"Hi." says Riley. "My name is Riley, and this is my girlfriend Holly."

Holly mutters something about never getting to introduce herself.

"I'm Travis." the burly guy says. "This is James. He's bit." Travis finishes.

"He's been bitten?" repeats Caroline. "My apologies. We've been working on a vaccine but we've made little progress. The disease keeps changing, it's unlike anything I've ever seen and I cannot find anything similar recorded in history."

_Obviously. I think we would know if at one point the dead rose and killed everyone. _I almost say, but I bite my tongue, thinking better of myself.

I sigh. I was hopeful that somehow all these doctors and nurses could come up with a cure. It looks like our hopes have been dashed.

David and Melanie exchange looks behind Caroline, and David steps forward.

"Actually, Caroline, when you were out this morning Melanie and I made a huge breakthrough. We meant to tell you and then we were called down here."

Caroline turns around. "Is that breakthrough a serum?"

"Well, no." says Melanie, shifting uncomfortably. "But if we were to test it on someone infected and it worked… it could lead to a serum. It could stop this thing from destroying the country… and then the world."

Everyone turns to James, who says his first words in a long time in a raspy, choked up voice.

"Okay. For science, I guess."

* * *

Caroline and her assistants took James away, and Connor then showed us the residences, where the families of the military members stayed. It looked like a typical neighbourhood, except every single house was exactly the same except for house numbers on the doors. Connor let us into house number 13 and left.

Now in our reduced numbers, we simply stand around in the house, taking it all in. It really is a beautiful house. Hardwood floors, very modern furniture and appliances, and best of all, four bedrooms. I get to sleep by myself. Thank god, because sleeping with Noah was awkward.

Then I remember that Noah is gone, and I feel upset all over again.

Now everyone is doing their own thing. Backpacks are thrown onto the ground, their once precious contents of water, food, and guns nearly forgotten. It almost feels wrong not working as a group, even though we hardly know each other. My dad plops onto a couch and stretches, yawning very loudly. Travis murmurs something about checking out military stuff before leaving the house, leaving his gun behind. Riley and Holly run upstairs, Holly giggling. Suddenly it's just my mother and I, who I've barely spoken to since we left home two days ago.

"Sounds like Travis had a good idea. What do you think about checking out the military stuff around here, Liam?" she asks. She sounds like we're on vacation or something. I play along, to hold onto the hope that things get better again.

"I'll look lame checking out military stuff with my mom." I say, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Well you don't have a choice." she says, putting her hands on her hips and winking.

I don't feel normal. My heart is still heavy from the loss of my brother in such a brutal way. I'm not sure I can ever feel the carelessness or same happiness I felt before this. It won't be the same experiencing life without Ryan, my best friend. I know my mother is broken too. Maybe if we keep this little play up, we might feel a little bit of happiness. Maybe we could move on.

"Whatever." I say, rolling my eyes in an exaggerated way. "Let's go. I hope it's safer here."


	9. Honour

"That's a pretty cool tank." I say. My mother and I have wandered toward an outdoor exhibit of World War II era weaponry. "I wonder if it could kill walkers."

"Don't be silly." my mother says. "That thing is older than me. It probably hasn't worked in years."

"I wonder if they have actual tanks around here." I wonder aloud.

"Can't say we do." says a voice from behind us. "Not in quite a while, anyway."

My mother and I turn around. It's a woman soldier. She's pretty good looking, but not like Holly. She looks good... naturally. Her long brown hair and light brown eyes somehow match the camo she wears. Holly doesn't look that good naturally.

She laughs. "My name is Allie. I saw Sgt. Dawson bring your group in here earlier. You guys look like you've been rolling around in a pile of horse crap. Anyway, Dawson's out looking for people again and I'm stuck babysitting his little brats."

Behind her, I see three kids. A teenage boy sits on a bench, next to a monument of a soldier with a dog. He looks maybe 15. It looks like he's reading a book and he seems insanely bored. Close by, two other girls play in a pit of sand in front of the monument, maybe 13 and 10 years old.

"Well, I'm Liam." I introduce myself.

"I'm Paula." my mother says, extending a hand for Allie to shake. She shakes my mother's hand, looking a little awkward.

Out of nowhere, screams come from the monument. My heart begins to race, is it walkers!?

No, it's not. Thank god. It looks like the older girl took the boy's book. The younger girl, seeing her opportunity to strike, jumps on top of the other two and they all collapse to the ground.

"Sorry about that." Allie says. "I have to go calm then down." then, turning away, she shouts at the kids. "HEY! Rachel, give Isaac his book back! And stop jumping on people Katie! Quit fighting or your father is going to kill me!"

My mother giggles as Allie rushes back and attempts to pull the kids apart.

"I remember when you and Ryan were like that." she says smiling. But her smile fades. I guess she almost forgot that Ryan wasn't here anymore.

"You know, I'm not really in the mood for this anymore." she says, looking down. "I think I'll be going back to the house. Come back soon, Liam."

And she leaves.

I look at the monument, trying to tune out Allie yelling at the kids. The guy being portrayed looks pretty young. I guess it's honouring a soldier who died in World War II. I can almost see how worn his face is. I can almost see the desperateness to get out.

Or maybe it's a reflection of me.

I choose to focus on the fighting kids instead.

* * *

It was almost dark when I returned to the house. Riley and Holly were done doing whatever they were doing and Travis had returned as well. We quietly ate around the large table, reflecting on what had happened that day.

I lay awake in bed now, because I can't fall asleep. I guess nearly being killed does that to you. I wonder how James is feeling. How Allie managed to split up the kids. If Caroline will find a cure. There's so much to wonder about, but before I can get too enveloped in my own thoughts, I feel myself drifting away.

And I drift.

* * *

I'm reliving the deaths of Noah and Ryan all over again. I hear their screams, see their insides strewn about, smell their blood. Then, a walker comes after me. I try to fight it but I can't. I'm too weak. I fall and it falls on top of me… and then…

I feel a hand nudging me, then slapping me lightly on the cheek.

"Yo. Liam. You alive?" It's Riley. God, that guy loves waking me up.

I look up at him. He's… clean? I look down at my mud caked self and suddenly feel a little self-conscious.

"Did you… shower?" I ask him. He even smells good. I never thought I'd be so happy to smell another guy.

"Yeah. They actually have water here. Isn't that great?" But he doesn't have time to hear me answer, because I've jumped out of bed so quickly I accidentally brought him to the ground. Scrambling, I run into the nearest bathroom, blocking Travis who carries the same loofah from the day before.

I slam the door behind me, just in time to hear Travis shouting about how at this rate he will never get to "use my damn loofah!"

The shower is the best thing I've ever felt. Being bloody and caked in mud and greasy feels as disgusting as it looks. I think I've left my socks on, but I don't care. I'm daydreaming about everything good in the world until I realize that I must have been here for a half hour. I reluctantly exit the shower.

Next to the shower is a closet, which I quickly rifle through, finding sweatpants and a loose fitting shirt. This is probably the most comfortable and clean I've felt in my life. Too bad it had to be because of walkers.

As soon as I walk out of the bathroom, I see the line. Travis in front, followed by Holly and my parents. Travis rushes inside and Holly mumbles something about taking forever. Riley stands to the side, smirking at me.

"Come on, Liam. While these guys get nice and clean, we're going to the hospital. Time to check on James and see if we've got ourselves a cure."

* * *

**AN: From now on, I'll be posting a chapter a week, on Sundays. Maybe 2 a week, it depends on how busy I am. With school, work, and other extracurricular activities, it's getting a little difficult to write.**


	10. Burns

Riley and I cut through the groups of people milling around the Fort. Since we've showed up yesterday, two more groups from the outside were rescued and brought here, looking as scared, dirty, and on edge as we probably did.

We walk in silence through the neighbourhood. He leads the way. The confidence in his step has seemingly come back, along with his sense of humour.

"Do you remember how to get to the hospital?" he asks, stopping and turning to look at me. He smirks a little bit.

"Yeah. We go past the post office, you go left, and its the tall white building with a giant red cross. You can't miss it." I say, trying to mimic Connor's tour guide-like instructions given to us the night before.

"Right... I think I see it. And it's smoking. Shit." Riley points at a plume of black smoke coming from next to the post office.

"Oh my god... James..." I say, my eyes widening at the prospect of losing him now, when there is a cure at stake.

Riley breaks into a run, and I follow.

* * *

The hospital is definitely on fire. On the inside anyway. Smoke is coming from open windows on nearly every floor, even the front doors. I don't know if anyone could get out of there. How could a fire this bad start? It had to be a major screw up or something.

"We need to go in there and find him!" Riley shouts frantically, looking at me. His blue eyes wide in fear. He's shaking now, and I am too.

The wind picks up a little. That only fans the flames.

"We can't!" I shout back, feeling helpless. "We'll get killed! Maybe he got out on his own! Caroline, David and Melanie were going to take good care of him! He's their ticket to a cure, they wouldn't just let him die!" I look around, hoping to spot James in a crowd with the researchers.

I spot a large group of people near the post office. There are maybe thirty of them, women, men and children alike. They're covered in ashes and they stumble around in a disoriented fashion. I can hear some of them crying from over here.

I see some doctors in torn coats treating the people who got out, and treating themselves. Upon closer inspection, many of the survivors and even doctors seem badly burned. In the mix up, I see Caroline's face, but it disappears as she leans down, possibly treating someone. It has to be James.

"I just saw Caroline!" I say to Riley, turning to him. "She had to get him out. I bet he's cured!"

Riley looks at me, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "We're wasting time, we have to go over there."

We speed walk toward the post office, passing through survivors of the fire and curious Fort Benning citizens alike, careful to stay calm and not upset anyone who escaped the burning hospital building. It smells terrible, and the heat of the fire can be felt even from across the street.

Upon reaching the post office, we push our way through the large crowd to where I saw Caroline. A figure I didn't see stands up in front of us. It's Caroline, and she was treating someone.

But it's not James.

She's treating Melanie. The right half of Melanie's face is burned very badly, her clothes are covered in dust and her right arm is burned as well. She sits on the wide stairs of the post office, looking blankly at the ground.

James isn't in sight. Riley notices this, and the joy in his eyes turns into sudden anger. He turns from looking at Melanie in a disgusted awe to looking at Caroline with hate in his eyes.

"Where the hell is James!?" he snaps, getting Caroline's attention. "You're supposed to be helping him! Where is he!?"

Caroline stays quiet. Her and Melanie exchange a look.

"He's still in the hospital." Caroline answers, quietly, directing her eyes at the ground. "Him and David. They... they didn't make it out. Nor did our research, and our lab is probably destroyed by now."

The news feels like a sucker punch. The logical side of me knew that James would die eventually... but the optimist in me hoped that somehow, the scientists would have a breakthrough in their research and save him. To go in a fire without being able to fight it... almost as bad as being bit.

I turn to Riley. He looks... empty.

"How the hell could you let this happen?" I snap, disgusted by Caroline's carelessness. The people around us turn from the fire and stare at us instead. "He should have been your top priority! Now everything has gone to shit again and we're back where we started! What were you thinking!?"

She stares me down, unaffected by what I just said.

"Do you think David would have died if your friend was not our top priority?" she questions calmly. "He sacrificed himself for Melanie and I, and to try and get your friend out. We did everything we could!"

Melanie looks up from her burnt arm. "So you need to grow the hell up. Everyone has lost someone. I can't feel this side of my face but you're bitching about some kid who was pretty much dead anyway." she hisses harshly.

Riley looks at me blankly. He looks back at the two remaining researchers. Then he leaves.

I don't say another word. Instead, I take a seat on the postoffice stairs and watch the hospital burn, eating up James and our chance of a cure.


	11. Spies

It's been about two weeks since the hospital caught fire and subsequently collapsed on itself, with James and David inside. Since then, the military has been transporting civilians to Atlanta by helicopter, and more and more walkers have been wandering toward Fort Benning.

Other than the dead rising and killing tons of people, life has become relatively normal again. Riley, Holly, Travis, my parents and I still live together. Caroline and Melanie have moved their 'hospital' to the postoffice, Allie still babysits Isaac, Rachel and Katie, and Dawson is almost never around Fort Benning because he hopelessly looks for more survivors.

Even though things have become relatively safer, everyone is still hurt. Especially Riley, who lost his best friend in the hospital fire. He had refused to talk to anyone for a couple of days after. When Holly and my mother heard about it they both cried. I think I even saw the aloof Travis shed a tear.

I'm still upset too. I really hoped that James would make it out alright and that we would find a cure, but that didn't happen. Now we just have to wait to be shipped to Atlanta, where it is apparently much safer than here. In the meantime, I've been becoming close with Allie and Connor. They've been mentioning trips outside the Fort ending badly for some soldiers, which is a little worrying.

I follow Allie and Connor around as they patrol inside the Fort, Allie keeping Isaac, Rachel, and Katie in tow. We often talk about life before the walkers, the kids chattering loudly behind us.

"You know," Connor says after a period of silence. "Dawson says your group is more than welcome to stay here if you guys help do patrol."

"Patrol? Could you imagine Holly or my mom doing patrol?" I scoff at the thought of the girls taking out walkers as skillfully as the soldiers.

"They wouldn't be on the front lines." answers Allie, choking back laughter. "They'd be doing this shitty walking around and looking for walkers job. You boys would be doing the shooting job."

"That's sexist!" Rachel shouts from behind us. She usually likes to make her opinions known and it's a little bit annoying, but we ignore her.

"No it isn't." snorts Isaac, mocking his sister's voice. "Those girls can't even shoot. They would be eaten so quickly." Typical Isaac, always contradicting his sister. Sometimes that gets annoying too, but it's nice comedic relief in these dark times.

Ignoring the teens, Connor continues with his question. "Well? Do you want to work with us or not? Its-"

Connor is cut off when the sound of a helicopter approaches from the distance. Even the kids stop their chatter and look overhead. Seeing the helicopter itself isn't strange, but it had just left to bring a group to Atlanta maybe a half hour ago. It normally takes much longer to unload the civilians and the supplies that they bring with them.

I look back at Connor. "I'll ask the others and get back to you later. Can we go check out the helicopter? Am I allowed to do that?"

"Probably not." answers Allie, tilting her head to the side a bit in confusion.

"Good." I say, trying my best to smile devilishly. "Lets go see it." I begin walking toward the park next to the postoffice where the helicopter normally lands and takes off.

"We're not allowed! Daddy said so!" cries Katie from behind Allie.

"Well, we aren't letting your daddy know." Connor says. "This is a top secret super spy mission."

* * *

We look on in shock as the helicopter's doors open. Out comes the group of civilians sent off earlier in the day, with all of their supplies. For some reason they have come back from Atlanta without dropping anything off. They all look disgruntled and scared, like they were attacked by a dragon.

Next the pilot comes out, looking as petrified as the people before him. Connor approaches him cautiously.

"Why didn't you drop them off?" he asks the pilot, who still looks shocked.

The pilot shakes his head. "They... they..."

"Who are 'they'?" pries Connor. "What the hell happened, man!?"

The kids push their way between Allie and I and look at the pilot tentatively. He ignores them. Allie looks at me. She looks anxious. Her eyes are lit with anxiety and she begins to bite on her fingernails.

The pilot stutters on his words a little bit. "They... t-they... Atlanta... dead..."

Connor stares at him wide eyed. "Atlanta dead? They? Come on, you're not making sense."

"The walkers..." the pilot says, shaking his head and backing away. "They... they killed everyone. Atlanta is dead."

Absolute silence. Even the birds have stopped chirping.

"All of those people we brought there? All of the supplies?" Connor is speeding up his questions and shaking a little. Or am I shaking?

The pilot nods several times quickly. He puts his face in his hands. "It was terrible." his voice comes through his fingers a little muffled. "All over. Barely made it out…"

Isaac and Rachel stand dumbfounded. Katie sobs a little. I feel a cold shiver down my spine. There were tons and tons of people in Atlanta. They had much better defences than us here. Alarms and sentries and even military all over the place. They even had the Centre for Disease Control. But now they're all dead. I hope that some of them got out.

"Does Dawson know?" Connor asks, after a period of silence.

The pilot nods his head wildly again. "Y-yeah. Walkie-talkied with him when I landed. Said he's coming over here now."

As if on cue, the postoffice's front door slams shut. Out comes Dawson, alone for once, jogging toward us.

"Daddy!" Katie yells, running to him and jumping into his arms. He laughs and spins her around, then continues to run.

When he reaches us, Allie, Connor, and the pilot sautés him. He shrugs them off and starts speaking in his gruff voice.

"Did you tell these people what happened?" Dawson demands, staring down the already petrified pilot.

"Y-yes sir." the pilot answers.

"I already told you not to do that!" Dawson snaps, putting down Katie and looking sternly at the shaky pilot. "I told you and those civilians to keep quiet and you directly defy me! You even told my kids! Do you know what kind of situation that puts me in?"

The pilot shifts uncomfortably, staring at the ground.

"We won't tell anyone." Rachel speaks up suddenly. "If you don't want people to get stressed or whatever over this then we won't tell anyone! We promise! It's our little secret."

I'm sort of taken aback by Rachel. Firstly by how she didn't seem to care about all the people in Atlanta that died, but also by speaking for everyone and promising that we wouldn't say anything about probably the most important event to happen in all of human history. It's not often that a whole huge city gets torn to shreds by the walking dead.

Dawson sighs, looking between his kids. I'm suddenly grateful that the little nuisances are around because Dawson obviously has a soft spot for them.

"I'll allow it." he says finally, speaking slowly. "But if anyone ever learns of this, you'll all regret it."

"We won't tell anyone!" Katie reassures her father. "We're super spies! Spies don't give up their secrets!"

I'll keep the secret too. Because I know that if anyone finds out that Atlanta has been destroyed, they'll be absolutely crushed. Especially Riley, Holly, and Travis, who told the rest of us that they were from there.

I guess I'm kind of like a spy too.

* * *

We sit around the dinner table, laughing and eating together like we have the past couple of weeks. The original group. It's nice to be with these people who I genuinely consider friends. Also my parents. All my mom and dad do is walk around Fort Benning like tourists, taking in all the old timey military stuff that is strewn around. Holly and Riley are connected at the hip, always hanging out and laughing, and I think Travis sleeps for half the day.

I'm not laughing like the rest. The fall of Atlanta is taking a toll on me. Thinking of all those people, families like mine, friends like mine, all dead is a depressing thought. What's more depressing is that means there's a ton of more walkers out there. I don't think that this is under control anymore.

I try and keep my mind of the threat of the walkers and tune back in to the story Riley is telling about his time at college.

"… and then he came at me with a rubber chicken stuffed inside a huge baguette and started whacking me with it. That's why you never go clubbing with Travis." Riley concludes. I missed the entire story about the time Riley and Travis went to a club, I guess. My loss.

Everyone else laughs so I play along.

Holly looks like she's recalled something as well. "That reminds me of the time Travis and that girl from New York-" she starts.

"Hey!" Travis interjects, more talkative than usual today. "We don't talk about that night. Mistakes were made." he says in his normal, low, voice.

My dad still laughs. "I remember when Paula and I did stuff like that." he says, looking at my mother. She smiles back at him.

"I don't really remember those nights, Bruce." she says. I feel like puking in my mouth while all the others laugh.

"You guys are disgusting." I say, finishing my plate of food provided to us by the army cafeteria. Everyone laughs. I'm not sure I enjoy being the youngest in the group.

I go upstairs to my bedroom which has a good view of the entrance to the Fort and the woods around it. I sit down on my bed and look at the night stand. It's a pretty plain wood table, with a phone and my pistol on it. The phone hasn't worked in days. I look out the window to see both sides of the highway guarded by soldiers, but I count less and less soldiers every day. Allie once said that a stray walker can come out of nowhere and get someone near the forest. She didn't tell me what they did to someone once they were bit.

I think I can spot Allie and Connor in the distance, even though it's getting dark outside. They usually stand together talking about whatever. Everything looks peaceful.

Suddenly, a bunch of the soldiers turn and start begin shooting. I can see the small flashes of light at the end of their assault rifles where the bullets are flying. The figures that I think are Connor and Allie start shooting too. I've seen a soldier shoot before, maybe once or twice, but not in such a frenzy like this.

Then the soldiers turn around and begin to run back into Fort Benning, away from the horde of walkers that just broke in.


	12. Salvation

My heart is thumping right through my chest. I can feel the same fear I felt on the highway creeping back into my body, taking over my thoughts, tapping into my instincts. My eyes scan over the incoming herd of walkers, and then the fleeing soldiers. They aren't too far from here, and the cover of night does us no help.

I leap over my bed and pick up my gun from the nightstand. I race down the stairs, yelling and screaming about the slowly approaching herd. Everyone at the dinner table stops what they're doing and looks up at me.

"Get your... guns!" I pant, my eyes darting around the room, looking at everyone. "Walkers... attacking!"

"Walkers?" repeats Holly, clearly frightened. "What about the army? Are you sure?"

"Yes! The soldiers ran away! I saw them!" I've regained by breath, and I can see fear creeping into the others just as it did me. "We have to get out of here now!"

Without questioning me, everyone begins scrambling. Grabbing guns, food, water, backpacks, whatever is in reach. Travis grabs his loofah. Whatever we can salvage from the walker attack, we load into our backpacks. I throw the backpack that used to belong to my brother over my shoulder, but there isn't time to think about that right now.

My father kicks open the front door, and we rush outside. I whip my head around, trying to remember the direction I saw the walkers coming from.

"There!" I shout, pointing toward the highway. I can hear the moans and collective shuffling feet of the walkers in the distance, complemented by the occasional sound of an assault rifle.

"How are we supposed to get out?" my mother begins to panic. "There's nothing but river on either side of the Fort. We're trapped!"

"How do you even know that?" Riley asks, clearly exasperated.

"We've been taking tours of this place, remember?" groans my father. "Enough of this wasting time. We need to hole up somewhere!"

The moans are getting closer, I can almost smell the walkers. Rotting flesh, death, and various bodily fluids and organs. My heart begins to race even faster, my mind goes into overdrive, thinking of somewhere we could be safe.

"The postoffice!" I shout immediately, surprised by my own volume. Everyone looks at me, shocked.

"Good idea." nods Travis. "Easy to board up and defend. Let's move."

We set off in a run. I hear my own heart thumping in my ears. My lungs burn already. I am seriously out of shape.

Around us, I can hear screams and gunfire. The walkers must be advancing and killing civilians. The sounds of what must be innocent people dying pierce my skull. I don't want to die. I won't die.

We round the last corner, and there it is, across the thin street from the destroyed hospital. The postoffice. Our salvation.

Parked outside of the postoffice are a couple of mail trucks. They're not much use now if the only road out is clogged by walkers.

"Why the hell does this shit always happen to us!?" I hear Riley shout angrily, because he seems to see what I'm looking at.

Ten or twenty walkers, clearly in military gear, are shuffling toward us. Not too far behind us, I can hear the moans and snarls of the growing horde. We're trapped.

The military walkers are fully equipped. They wear the usual camo pants and shirt, but they also wear helmets. We can't shoot through those. Their eyes are glossed over, and they have cuts and tears on the spots where they were bit. They don't quite smell like death yet.

"How do we kill them!?" my mother shrieks, holding up her pistol. The sound of her voice attracts the walkers.

The walkers slowly move in front of the postoffice entrance. I don't think we'll make it.

Adrenaline pumps through me now. I feel light, I feel fast and strong. There's no time to think. We only have time to fight.

"Try anything!" I shout, in the same loud, almost authoritative voice I used before. I never knew I had that voice.

I focus in on the horde. The one nearest to me. It used to be a guy. Brown hair spills out from under the helmet. I think I've seen him around before. My bullets barely dent his armour, but I keep shooting. These things killed my brother. I have to kill them.

Just our luck, the horde from behind has finally caught up. They round the corner, they stumble across lawns, they do whatever they can to get their hands on our delicious human meat.

I look around, at my friends, my family. I can see the fight in them, too. My dainty mother, brawny father, quiet Travis and cocky Riley. Even Holly has finally come into her strengths.

Everyone releases a second volley of bullets. Wherever a walker is, a bullet is flying in its direction. Are we... in control?

The walkers close in on us. I can see their teeth, smell their decay, and I can almost feel their teeth gnashing on me from this distance.

Suddenly, a noise from the post office, where the walkers are almost blocking the door. The door creaks open a tiny bit.

"Get in here!" a voice screams. It's a woman.

No one hears it but me, even the walkers are still distracted by our gunshots.

"There's someone in there!" I shout, pointing at the postoffice. "They called us over!"

Everyone looks up from the approaching walkers and our impending doom to look at me wide eyed.

Shots come from the postoffice windows. Walkers around the door begin to collapse and re-die.

"Well don't just stand there!" my father booms, taking down another fresh looking walker. "MOVE!"

The mob of walkers is getting tighter on both sides of us as we run through the road. The walkers are so close that they reach out and nearly scratch us. I can smell the disgusting scent of their decay. The adrenaline pumping through my system blocks them out and keeps me running.

We've reached the door, and just as it opens, I hear a spine tingling shriek from behind me.

I turn around and suddenly everything is in slow motion. A walker has grabbed Holly by the shoulders and sunk its teeth into her throat. Holly's eyes are wide, fearful, desperate. It pulls out, bringing a huge chunk of neck with it. I watch in frozen terror as she falls down mid-scream and the walkers swarm in on her, blocking what's left of Holly from my vision.

Riley looks back, and starts screaming too. He tries shooting, but it's too late. His girlfriend is gone.

Everything returns to its normal speed as I am pulled into the postoffice and thrown on my back, still facing outside, trying to process what has just happened.

I hear gunshots going off like crazy as my mother, father, and Travis rush in after me.

Riley is still outside, and the door is still open. His screaming has turned into a wild, savage yelling, almost like an ancient war cry. He shoots every walker he can see, but Holly is still lost.

Travis grabs Riley by the waist and throws the dismayed guy over his shoulders, carrying him literally kicking and screaming into the postoffice as our saviours close the door behind them.

Our saviours are Connor, Caroline, and Melanie.

Walkers immediately begin pounding on the door. There is no time for a happy reunion or taking in the sights of the postoffice. We grab anything we can, small tables, chairs, and even a photocopy machine, and pile them in front of the door.

I've finally come down from my adrenaline high, and the impact of Holly's death hits me like a brick wall.

I can see that the brick wall has hit Riley too. His shirt is covered in blood, his eyes are red and puffy and he stands as still as a statue, looking wide eyed at his hands. He drops his gun.

"That pile isn't going to hold long." my father says, ignoring Riley, then looking around and spotting a back room. "If it doesn't work, we head in there. Thats where they send the mail out, right?"

I'm not listening, I'm watching Riley. He breaks his statue-like pose and begins rapidly and furiously punching the wall behind him. I jump a little, his movements are so sudden and quick. He lets out choked sobs and colourful language, as the rest of us solemnly watch him.

Caroline nods, looking at my father. "Thats correct. They load the letters and packages into the mail trucks and bring them to wherever they need to go."

"What if we were the mail?" my mother speaks up. Everyone looks at her confused. She shakes her head slightly and continues, shakily rubbing tears from her eyes. "I mean, the trucks are right there. We can get out if all the walkers are over here instead of by the highway."

Riley starts kicking the wall now, sobbing louder and more steadily. His shoe breaks a small hole in the wall, but he doesn't seem to care. He's totally lost himself.

I look away from him, trying to contain my sadness.

Melanie and Caroline push on the blockade, making sure it's sound.

"We're safe for now." announces Melanie. "Those things are relentless."

Relentless for sure. They just grabbed Holly away from us and that was it. Just because she happened to be last in line. Just like my brother had to be on that side of the car. I zone out thinking of how close I have come to death, and how being trapped in here will lead to my death, unless I get lucky again.

I shudder and zone back in, surprised to hear that the thumping on the door has stopped. Riley continues to slam on the wall and dry heave, but everyone else has gathered by the windows.

I push myself between Connor and my mother, and spot what everyone is looking at.

It's Dawson, with his kids and Allie. Dawson and Allie are spraying bullets around like crazy, drawing the walkers away from us in the postoffice toward them in the road, they're just outside of the rubble that was once the hospital. Katie clings to her father, while Isaac and Rachel hang closer to Allie.

"I told Allie to meet me here." Connor whispers from next to me. "I guess she met up with Dawson and the kids on the way."

"What do we do?" demands Travis, focused on the fight outside.

"We yell at them and draw the walkers back here. What else?" groans Melanie. "Then we all get slaughtered. How fun is that?"

"Quit being so negative." I snap, turning my focus on Melanie. In a quieter voice, I continue. "We just lost someone. Quit being so god damn inconsiderate."

Melanie is about to speak, but she's cut off by the yelling outside.

"I know you're in there Connor!" yells one voice in desperation. It's Allie. She lifts her arm, exposing her ripped uniform and torn skin right under it. She's bit.

"We have to let them in!" Connor hisses. "There's three kids for Christ's sake!"

"She's bit!" protests Melanie.

Allie keeps shooting as Dawson leans down, telling his three kids something inaudible from over here. "Hurry it up!" Allie screams, as the walkers advance on them.

Isaac and Rachel nod. But Katie doesn't accept. "No daddy!" she screams. "I'm not leaving you!"

"It's your funeral!" Allie shouts at her. "You two, come with me." she turns to the post office, looking right at us. "CONNOR! Please let us in!"

Allie, Isaac, and Rachel break into a run toward us.

"Fuck you." spits Connor, glaring at Melanie. He tears down the barricade, and unlocks the door, no one argues.

The horde has closed in on Allie, Isaac and Rachel.

"GO!" she screams to the distraught kids. Rachel runs immediately, Isaac following tentatively. Allie runs full force into the walkers, falling on top of them but creating a path for the kids. The walkers eagerly pull a screaming Allie apart like they did Holly.

I can't look outside. The scene is too gruesome, too saddening. One of my only friends here, bitten, but then dies like a hero. I'm hit by another wall of bricks. The door flies open, Isaac and Rachel collapsing to the ground inside of the postoffice. I puke on my shoes, Travis and my mother following suit.

Outside, Dawson and Katie are trapped, the forest to their backs. Dawson looks around frantically, throws Katie over his shoulder in a fireman carry, and sprints toward the forest and into the darkness. The walkers begin slowly shuffling back toward us.


	13. Dark

Isaac and Rachel are both crying and shaking, holding each other and sitting on the floor. Their caretaker just sacrificed herself for them. Their sister and father just ran into the forest nearly unarmed and without supplies, and they're trapped in a postoffice with people they hardly know trying to board everything up to keep walkers out.

Meanwhile, Riley has stopped hitting things and has sunken to the floor, sitting against the wall in complete sadness and grief. He refuses any attempts by my mother at comforting him and doesn't speak at all.

The walkers pound onto the front door relentlessly from outside, moaning and groaning in a disgusting symphony of death. Their smell permeates the room, and makes me want to puke even more.

"This barrier isn't going to hold long." Travis declares, staring uneasily at the pile of chairs and small tables blocking the door. I don't blame him for thinking that.

Everyone looks at the back room that according to Caroline leads to the mail trucks outside. The door is open, and it looks like a large garage where trucks could fit in and take packages and letters out. It's dark in there, and I can't see all the way to the back of the room.

I look back at the front door. I can see it being pushed in a little by the walkers outside.

"That garage looks nice." I say, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Isaac and Rachel stand up uneasily, leaning on each other. They look dizzy and scared. I don't blame them, because I wonder if that's how I look.

Riley stands too. He looks at me and nods his head slowly. He turns, and slowly moves toward the open garage door.

The rest of us run toward the door as well, much quicker than Riley. We file into the garage and I begin to feel around the dark room for a light switch. My hand runs over it, and I eagerly flip it on. The room is suddenly illuminated, revealing what could be our escape.

There it is, a lone mail truck, facing a large metal garage door. Our salvation.

"How do we get that door open?" Isaac asks. The rusted door looks heavy, and there's no remote around to open it automatically.

Caroline points to one side of the door, where there is a chain hanging loosely from the ceiling close to the floor. It looks like it's attached to the metal door at the ceiling.

"It looks as if we have to open it ourselves." she says. "Someone start the truck and lift the on the back where they put the letters. We won't all fit in the front."

"What if there's walkers right outside the door?" my mother asks.

"That's a risk we have to take, Paula." my father tells my mother gruffly.

Everyone scatters and begins to work on something.

Connor rushes to the truck and opens the front door. He jumps in and starts rifling through everything, desperately searching for a key.

Meanwhile, Travis, Isaac, Rachel, Melanie, and Caroline have started pulling on the chain. The metal door begins to move up as the five struggle and grunt with the weight.

I run behind the truck and reach under the back of the mail truck, feeling around for some way to pull it up. My finger catches a latch, and I pull it up. The back is open.

I look behind me to see my parents stand at the door, guns drawn, focusing on the post office lobby. Riley is sitting down again, next to my mother.

The metal door is half way open and still rising. The group opening it is making progress quicker and quicker.

The thumping on the front postoffice has been intensifying. It's like every walker in Fort Benning has been drawn to the sound of the other walkers slamming on the door. Like they gathered there consciously to kill us.

And the front door collapses. The barrier blocking it falls to pieces, and the walkers fall in on top of each other.

"Shit!" my father yells, slamming the garage door shut and pushing his weight onto it.

The truck finally revs to life, exhaust fumes hit me and I cough a bit. The walkers may smell bad but I've always hated exhaust fumes. Connor must have found the keys. Just in time.

"Get in the back of the truck!" I yell, waving frantically to the group opening the metal door. "The walkers are inside, we don't have much time!"

My mother grabs an unresponsive Riley's wrist and leads him into the back of the mail truck, climbing in after him. Isaac and Rachel rush over from pulling the chain and hop in as well. The metal door is nearly completely open.

"GO! Get in there!" Travis yells to Caroline and Melanie, who are still pulling the chains with him. The women look at him and nod, dashing over and hopping in.

The walkers bang on the door behind my father. He forces all his strength and weight on keeping the door shut, but it won't stay that way for long.

Travis finally finishes with the metal door. He drops the chain and sprints to me, jumping into the back of the truck. I follow him in.

"Bruce! Hurry!" my mother screams wildly. My father is the only person not in the truck.

He opens his mouth. But he never has time to say anything. The door breaks off it's hinges, flying on top of him. The walkers pile in once more, and spotting fresh meat, converge on him in less than a second.

"NO!" I scream in abandonment. My mother screams just as loud as I am. I scan the pile of walkers crazily for a glimpse of my father. He has to be fine. He has to.

Connor, hearing the walkers, puts the pedal to the metal. The truck speeds away from the broken down door and my devoured father. Before anyone can bounce out of the truck, Travis closes the back of the truck. Everything turns dark.

Everything is dark. My senses have gone dark. I can barely hear what must be my mother sobbing intensely. I can't smell Holly's blood on Riley's shirt. I can't feel myself.

My father is dead, but I can't feel anything. Am I in shock? Am I in shock?

My eye lids suddenly are very heavy. I wonder why. I slump over a little bit and drift away.

* * *

My sleep is interrupted by yelling. Why are people yelling while I'm trying to sleep?

I open my eyes, and I'm blinded by a sharp light. Light? It's not supposed to be light outside during the night. Nature is being silly today.

It looks like Connor and Riley are yelling at each other. I wonder why. It's too nice a day to be arguing. Or night. I'm not sure. I'm not going to listen to them. It's a too nice night-day to be arguing. When will they learn that?

I look around. It looks like I'm alone in the truck. And when did someone put a sweater over me? It smells like my mom. Why do I know what my mom smells like? That's kinda weird.

No one else is in here. I guess I'll pretend to stay asleep and listen to the guys arguing. Too bad they're doing it when it's so pretty outside.

"Why the hell are you mad at me for something that was completely and totally out of my control?!" Connor yells. Riley is mad at him? That's not nice.

"Maybe because you parked on the fucking side of the road next to a forest which happens to be filled with walkers, you idiot!" Riley yells back. "Why didn't you stop at the gas station a few miles back if we didn't have any? At least we could have set something up there! Now we have to walk around out in the open!"

At least Riley is talking again, even if he's swearing and being mean. I can't seem to remember why he wasn't talking before. Oh well.

"Right!" Connor says. I think he's being sarcastic. "Let's stop at the gas station infested with walkers! Great idea! I guess we should go back and kill them with our imaginary bazookas and good wishes!"

"It's better than the side of the road you stupid fuck!" Riley yells back. They're arguing about shelter, I think.

"I was trying to get to Macon! We were almost there!" Connor says. "There has to be people there."

Other people in Macon? That sounds fun. These people aren't being very nice right now.

"You two need to stop fighting!" a woman says. My mom walks into view. I guess it was her talking. "We just lost two people! I just lost my husband, for Christ's sake! We need time to mourn! Time to regroup and get over this!"

Huh? She lost her husband? Did dad get lost somewhere? I hope not.

Riley looks quiet again. He looks back into the truck toward me but I close my eyes quickly before he can see me.

I open my eyes slightly again. Riley isn't looking at me anymore. He's looking at the ground. Connor is looking at my mother, who is crying. I feel bad for her, but she shouldn't feel so paranoid. It's not like dad died or anything. He's just lost.

Caroline suddenly and quietly strides into view and she looks in at me. I close my eyes before she can find out I'm awake. I'm getting good at this.

"How is he feeling?" she whispers to no one in general. "Has he woken up?"

Is she talking about me? That's kinda creepy.

"No." my mother answers, I can still hear her crying a little bit. "You said he doesn't have a concussion? He might just be in shock?" she adds.

"That's correct, at the worst he may be in shock." Caroline says. "He just had his father figure taken away from him in such a brutal way. That is extremely traumatizing, even for someone his age. He might be acting a little… off… for a while." Wait, dad isn't lost? Someone kidnapped him? Wow, I hope he's okay.

"What do you mean by off?" Connor asks. He's not yelling anymore. I hope he still isn't mad at Riley.

"Sometimes people who go through these traumatic things shell up, mentally or physically." Caroline answers calmly. "As such, he might actually suppress the memories that caused or led up to the trauma. It's a method of coping. As such, he could act childish or even violent, and we need to make sure that he doesn't get up to anything stupid."

They can't be talking about me, I'm perfectly fine. I can't even remember if I've repressed memories. I'd remember something like that!

"How can you know that without properly looking at him?" Connor asks.

"I don't." Caroline sighs. "I just know that he can't have a concussion. He fell onto Melanie. If anything she should be injured, not him."

I don't remember falling onto Rachel, so I know they're not talking about me. I should really figure out who they're talking about, I hope he's okay. I decide that it would be a good time to step outside and take a breath of fresh air, so I pretend to stretch and yawn so that people think I just woke up.

It seems to work, everyone looks at me and smiles a bit.


	14. Plans

"Oh hello, Liam!" Caroline smiles at me. I pretend to stretch my arms and yawn.

"Hi, Caroline." I say, smiling back. I'm not going to ask about who they were talking about because he might be around. We wouldn't want someone volatile hurting our friends?

"How are you feeling?" my mother asks, her smile is a little weaker than Caroline's. I wonder why.

"Never better!" I beam, and it's true. Her smile leaves her face. Does she not want me to feel good?

I hop out of the back of the truck and stretch some more, but this time it's real.

I decide to take in my surroundings a bit.

Travis has somehow managed to climb the truck and is sitting cross-legged on top of it, near the edge and holding a gun, looking around.

Isaac and Rachel are collecting something from the ditch near the trees, placing them in a backpack, while Melanie watches them intently.

Everyone else still looks at me. I'm not sure why and it feels a little strange. Maybe it's my breath. Or do I have something in my teeth? Suddenly I'm feeling self conscious.

"Why are you all looking at me?" I ask.

"We're just a little envious that you slept so well." Caroline says quickly, still smiling. "No nightmares?" Her smile looks a little drawn on at the point. Weird.

I shake my head. "No nightmares. Why would I have one?"

"No reason." she shakes her head a little bit. There must be a reason. Oh well.

There doesn't look like much to do here. We're on a small road, just two lanes, completely clear of cars or traffic. Forest stretches on either side of the road, and I can hear birds chirping and smell dew on the grass. The sky above is blue and clear, the sun beating down intensly on us. It's very picturesque aside from the heat.

Caroline turns around and strides toward Melanie, and my mother turns and smiles at me, even though she looks sad. As soon as Caroline is gone, my mother begins to talk quietly.

"Do you happen to remember anything about last night?" she whispers, looking over her shoulder toward Caroline, Melanie and the kids.

Even though mom was really quiet, Connor and Riley seem to hear her. They look at her wide eyed, like she just said something really offensive or surprising.

I think really hard. I remember being in a postoffice... was I delivering a letter? Picking up a letter? Nope. All I can remember is the postoffice.

"Do you even remember the walkers?" she's frantic now, crying a lot. I don't know why and it makes me upset as well. I can vaguely remember something now... walkers.. Walkers? Walk... walking... walkers. Yes! I remember now!

"Walkers are the dead... the dead walking things!" I exclaim loudly, suddenly remembering all of the unpleasant memories of their smell, their teeth and their lust for flesh. Everyone looks over at me. Rachel laughs a little. Caroline, Riley, and Connor rush over to us.

"What are you saying to him?" Caroline presses my mother, looking at me shocked. "You just did the opposite of what I asked." My mother cries even harder.

"D-do you remember!?" my mother cries hysterically, ignoring Caroline.

"Shut the hell up!" Riley yells at her.

"Leave her alone you fucking prick!" Connor snaps at Riley. Riley turns on him and stares him down. What are they arguing about? I don't understand!

"She's going to drive Liam insane! She needs to leave him alone!" Riley shouts back, seemingly unfazed by Connor's insults.

How would my mother drive me insane?

"Her husband is dead and you have the nerve to pick on her like this!?" yells Connor, forcing himself into Riley's face.

Caroline gasps a little bit. Connor's eyes widen and he looks at me. Riley stays focused on Connor and my mother just continues to cry even more.

My father… the walkers… Connor says he's dead... my brain feels like that there's a puzzle and these two pieces just aren't clicking together. My father can't be dead.

"My girlfriend is dead!" Riley bellows. "Two of my closest friends are dead! My family is probably dead! Everyone I ever knew is probably dead!" Riley shoves Connor away from him, still looking at him steely. I can remember Holly… Allie… James and Noah… even my brother Ryan… but my father? It's not making sense.

"You think you're the only one whose lost someone?" Connor shouts back, moving into Riley's space once again and balling his fists. "Cry me a fucking river! I watched by best friend get ripped apart last night! I witnessed dozens of bit people turn into complete psychos! All of my military friends are probably dead! At least you didn't get to see your little bitch get torn to shreds!"

"What the fuck did you just say about Holly?" Riley snaps, lunging at Connor. Riley knocks Connor over and the two begin rolling around on the road behind the mail truck, yelling and trying to throw punches and land kicks on each other. Within ten seconds, Connor has Riley pinned on the cement, relentlessly pounding on his face with his fists, while Riley tries in vain to throw the bigger and stronger guy off of his chest by shaking around and trying to punch him back. Soon he gives up and holds his arms to his face, trying to block Connor's punches.

Everyone converges on the affray, trying to pull the two guys apart. Finally, Connor is pulled from Riley and the two are forced away from each other. Caroline and Melanie wedge themselves between the two guys before another fight can start.

"You two just have to make everything about yourselves don't you!" Melanie shouts at them, glaring at them both. "Paula's problems have nothing to do with either of you but you fucking idiots just have to find a reason to fight! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

My mother's problems… those would be that Ryan is dead, and that we're currently exposed to the elements… and the walkers. And that's really sad, but why is that her problem? It's my problem too. I don't get it.

"And even worse," continues Melanie, a little bit calmer. "Dawson and his youngest daughter are gone. There's no trace of them, and no one here seems to care! Think of what Isaac and Rachel are going through! They're just kids, and they're acting more mature than you stupid fucks!"

I look over at Isaac and Rachel. They're clearly upset, now that I see them up close. Isaac's eyes are red and puffy. They stand limply and close together. They need each other.

I know in my mind that Dawson and Katie escaped from the walkers back at Fort Benning, but I can't visually remember it. Did they almost get killed? Were they in the clear? What were they carrying? I can't remember. But my memories of Allie and Holly are slowly returning, and I think that is a good sign, even though the memories are not pleasant.

Connor looks at his feet. He nods slowly. "You're right, Melanie." he says slowly. He still sounds very tense and angry. "Right. We need to focus on getting to Macon. It's a large city and there's some gun crazy people there. It's worth the risk."

"It's better than sitting out in the open." says Travis from on top of the truck.

"What about Atlanta?" suggests Riley. "It's a lot better than Macon. It's a big population centre. Lot's of police, doctors, and every day people with guns. Even before Fort Benning the government was trying to herd us there."

The word Atlanta strikes a small spark in my memory. I'm supposed to remember something about Atlanta. Something big. Something bad.

Connor hesitates. Does he know what I'm trying to remember? "The bigger the population the bigger the chance people have died and screwed everything up." he says tentatively. "Besides, Macon is closer to where we are and all the people who live there have probably left for Atlanta. That means supplies if we ever run low, which we aren't right now."

"Connor's right." nods Caroline. "There's probably far less walkers in Macon than around Atlanta. Personally, I want to go wherever is less walker-infested."

Everyone murmurs in agreement with Caroline and Connor.

"Have it your way then." Riley sneers, pushing his way through the crowd and walking toward the from of the truck. "Can't wait to get to Macon and see how dead it is. Or how dead we are. Because we're pretty screwed."

"Shut the hell up." Melanie groans quietly.

"The truck is out of gas, though." Travis reminds us, hopping down from the top of the truck.

"Then we walk." Riley says, walking back from the truck's front. He holds a map of Georgia, drawn on with red sharpie. "Connor drew this bad boy up when we ran out of gas last night. We're here. Or near here anyways." he says, pointing at where the red line ends. It looks like we're in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by road and trees. Looking around, that map seems pretty accurate.

"Unless we find a car or two some time soon, we're going to be walking for a while." I say, looking at the map closely. Where we are now and Macon don't look too far apart on the large map of Georgia, but that can be deceiving. This helps me take my mind of the puzzle that is my memory right now.

"Especially if we run into walkers..." Isaac speaks up for the first time in a while. He even sounds jittery and scared.

"They won't be much of a problem as long as there aren't too many." Connor assures the young teen. "We're pretty well armed."

"So what happens when we get to Macon?" asks my mother, just as shakily as Isaac. "What if there's people there and its safe? Or what if its walker infested? What's actual the plan here?"

Connor laughs a little bit. My mother looks at him concerned and a little annoyed. "There is no plan." he answers. "What we're going to do is make it safe. Whether there's people there or not. We'll make it livable."

"The plan is survival." Caroline finishes for him, looking sternly over the rest of us.

That puts everyone's questions to rest. Each of us pack up our things, our guns, our food, our water, and move out. As we walk slowly and surely as a group, I can't help but wonder about my memory gap. What am I missing about my father. I refuse to believe that he is dead right now. He has to be with Dawson and Katie. Yes, that's the only reasonable explanation. So to find the truth, I have to find Dawson and Katie. However difficult it may end up being in this world... I can't just believe the others. Maybe they saw something wrong. I have to find Dawson and Katie. Even if my father really is dead.

I have to know.


	15. Fuzz

We've been walking slowly for a couple of hours non-stop in the blaring heat of the Georgia midsummer, even though to me it feels like a couple of years of pure boredom and agony. In those couple of hours, our small group of survivors has come across two walkers and roadkill that looked like it used to be a raccoon. I almost wanted to be that raccoon. Somehow, I manage to be bored during the apocalypse where the dead are rising and eating the living. Weird.

As we walk, I'm supposed to be keeping watch for walkers or other people, but I'm not really doing that. Im enveloped in the mystery that is my memory. I can't remember if my father has died or not and I refuse to believe the group until I can find Dawson or Katie and see whether or not he somehow made it out with them, I'm trying to remain optimistic. My father has to be alive somewhere. He isn't dead until I remember it or I can see Dawson and Katie without him.

When Connor and Riley were fighting, the memories of the gruesome deaths of Allie and Holly came back to me. I tried hard not to think of them and focus on what is happening next for our group, but it wasn't working. After all the adrenaline of last night and the arguments of today the feeling that at least two living, breathing human beings lost their lives last night hits me hard. Even though I barely knew them, the two girls were so nice, so pretty, and so scared. Scared like us. I know that feeling all too well already. Losing Ryan, he was my brother, my best friend, was more than sad. It made me scared.

I analyze the faces of our group. My mother, Riley, Travis, Connor, Isaac, Rachel, Caroline, and Melanie. We've all lost something, or someone. We've all changed, that's clear. But no amount of change can get rid of our fear.

Deep in my own thought, I almost bump into Riley as he freezes in place right in front of me.

"Look at that!" he whispers quickly, looking back at us, pointing down the road. My gaze follows his finger, and I spot what Riley is so excited about.

It's a van. It's red and it looks like a vehicle that any soccer mom would drive with pride, but I guess if our entire group can suffer piling in it we can get to Macon much quicker. Unfortunately for us, the van has been completely surrounded by walkers, pounding on and bumping into the windows and doors, trying to force their way in there to get a free meal, or maybe more.

"There must be someone trapped in there!" Connor exclaims quietly next to me, pulling his pistol from his belt quickly. "We have to go over there and help them!"

Before anyone can move, Riley speaks up again. "No way are we trying to fight those things again!" he hisses, waving his arms around a little bit. "Do none of you remember what happened at Fort Benning? Those things are insane."

"But we have an advantage now. Theres's hardly any." retorts Travis from behind me. The walkers continue to pound on the van, maybe 50 yards ahead of us. I swear I can see the van start shaking slowly. I don't know why we're wasting time arguing again when we can be getting things done.

"Why are we even debating this?" I demand. Everyone turns and stares at me, I really hate being the centre of attention. "That's human life!" I continue after a second, looking over everyone. "We can't leave them to die. Besides, how else are we supposed to get to Macon before nightfall? That van could be our salvation."

Riley keeps his eyes on me, nodding slowly, carefully. I'm nervous that he might jump on me and start punching me like he did Connor. I'm not much of a fist-fighter.

"Liam's right." He says slowly after a moment of what looked like hard thought. I still can't believe he considered leaving those people behind, I'll remember that. "Let's take those undead bastards out." he smiles devilishly, breaking out in a run toward the van, leaving the rest of us behind and dumbfounded. His sudden shift in opinions is more worrying than my lack of memory.

"That guy's suicidal." groans Melanie, as the rest of us run after Riley, guns drawn. As we reach him, he stands near the walkers, his gun pointed toward the sky. Everyone else (with the exception of Isaac and Rachel who don't carry guns) points their weapons at the small cluster, ready to fire.

The first shot that Riley fires into the air immediately garners him the attention of the undead. They turn from the van and look at him, groaning and spitting. Slowly and surely, the walkers shuffle toward us, the closer they get the more of our bullets hit them and re-kill them. The smell is overwhelming, I don't think I'll ever get used to it, instead I try to think of the people in the van who need our help and how we're doing a good thing.

The last walker is finally killed. It falls onto the pile of its undead companions, a safe distance away from us. Some of us are getting better at aiming our shots, which is very good but not really saying much.

Carefully, we walk around the pile of dead walkers and look into the blood-splattered van windows, unable to see anything. The blood of the walkers is too thick to see who — or what is inside the van. Without thinking, Connor begins knocking on the doors and shouting. "If you're alive in there, please come out! We just took out those things on your van! It's safe now!"

Nothing happens. Connor keeps pounding on the windows.

After a moment, a creaking noise is heard. Slowly, the front and passenger doors begin to open. A man and woman, both looking in their mid-thirties, step out of the van, each holding their own pistol. The man is tall and bulky, very tanned with short brown hair and ice blue eyes. The woman is tall as well and very slender. She has short brown hair reaching her shoulders, with extremely dark brown eyes, with chocolate brown skin to match. Her and Melanie could be sisters, they look so much alike, but Melanie's burn scars set them apart.

Our group lowers our guns. We know these people aren't dead now. They're safe and we're safe.

"Thank you… thank you so much for that." says the woman, who had emerged from the passenger side. "You saved our lives. We couldn't have done that by ourselves."

"That was amazing of you." the man says. "We owe you our lives."

Connor shakes his head. "It wasn't a big deal." he says. "What are your names?"

"I'm Chris." the man says. "This is my wife, April. We were trying to get to Macon when we ran into those… things… we were stuck there for a while. I thought it was over."

"I'm Connor." Connor says. "The rest of these lovely people are Riley, Liam, Paula, Travis, Caroline, Melanie, Isaac, and Rachel." he points to each of us as he lists off our names, Chris and April greeting us all warmly. "We're on our way to Macon as well but to be honest with you we have no idea where we are right now." Riley frowns slightly, holding his crumpled map in his hand.

"Oh, we live in this town. It's called Fort Valley." April informs us. Great, another Fort. I'm tired of Forts, and by the looks of the road, this is not a town. "It's not much. More like a bunch of houses and a gas station a little ways down the road. A few schools, a church. We're a tight knit community but…" her voice trails off. She wipes her nose on the sleeve of her shirt.

"Everyone was holed up in the middle school when it got bad." Chris continues for his wife, as he walks over to her and she puts her head on his shoulder. "Two days ago, those things… broke down the doors. Every exit was clogged. April and I were the only ones who got out…"

We stand in silence. Even these people had it bad. If it's this bad here, I don't want to know what it looks like in Macon… or Atlanta… or the rest of the country.

"We were on our way to Macon too." says Riley after a few moments. "Look for people. Shelter. We're just trying to stay safe. Would you folks like to come with us? Give us a ride, maybe?"

Without even pausing, Chris and April both nod and smile.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea." Chris says, beaming. "Before my GPS battery died it told me that we were only 45 minutes away from Macon. I'm assuming you people walked out here? Seems dangerous."

"Yeah. All the way from Fort Benning." Connor says. The couple's eyes widen at the mention of the military stronghold, I guess they thought it was safe there. "It went down last night. We were so unprepared… lost a lot of good people."

"Damn." says Chris. We stand in silence again, almost reflecting on our dead.

"I guess it's best we head out now." says Travis, breaking the silence looking around nervously. "Don't want those walkers following our gunshots."

"You call 'em walkers?" asks Chris as he opens the van doors, letting everyone pile in. "That's a pretty badass name. Who came up with that?"

"We called him Dawson." Connor explains. "That was just his last name. Him and his youngest daughter went missing when Fort Benning fell… Isaac and Rachel are his two other kids."

"Oh… I'm sorry I asked." says Chris, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with the young teenagers and moving around to the drivers seat after wiping some blood off of the windshield with his sleeve. The doors all slam shut and I suddenly feel very regretful in picking the seat between Travis and Connor. As the van starts to move and bounce on the road toward Macon, I feel like a Liam sandwich crammed between the two larger guys.

Better than being a walker sandwich, I guess.

In the front of the van, April toys with the stereo. Turning the dial carefully and slowly from station to station, all she can find is fuzz. She finally gives up hits the stereo in frustration, and suddenly a man's voice beings to blare through it. Everyone in the van goes silent.

"... and no one will ever hear this you fucking idiot." a man's voice says. The connection to the station is fragile, and we can barely hear him through the fuzz. But it's audible.

"We have to do it anyway. Just in case." a second man's voice replies, slightly frustrated.

"Whatever" the first man says. "Listen, if anyone is actually alive out there... they probably don't have radio."

"Just fucking say it." the second man says again. "You're wasting time."

"Fine." the first man says, just annoyed as his partner. "If anyone is actually listening to this, you need to know that Atlanta is dead. Yup. Everyone here is dead, except my partner and I here. We're holed up in this radio station, and the biters are just outside our door. We're about to die! How quaint. But listen, the government fucking bombed Atlanta. I'm more pissed about that than the walking bitey things to be honest. Yeah, as soon as these bitey things got into the city they bombed the everliving shit out of everything. That didn't do anything except kill more people. Now we're stuck here."

"They're about to get in." the second voice says calmly after a moment. "So we'd like to bid everyone a fond farewell. We're not turning into those things."

Suddenly, a single gunshot is heard through the radio. Another shot follows closely. Then fuzz, and finally we lose connection to the station. But everyone in the van stays silent. Those two men... they just... did they...

"They killed themselves." my mother realizes, slowly. She's clearly extremely shocked. I am too. I can't fathom how someone could make that decision even in the most desperate situations. Everyone in the van wears the same expression as my mother.

"Atlanta..." Caroline trails off, trying to find her voice, for once inarticulate. "Oh my God." She says finally, burying her face in her hands.

I look at Connor. He knew the truth the whole time. Like me and the kids. Connor just looks blankly at the ground. He sighs heavily. Isaac puts his face in his hands like Caroline and Rachel just keeps looking forward.

"Don't kid yourself." Riley says gruffly to Caroline. "Don't say 'Oh my God'. That shit right there is proof that there is no God."


	16. Water

The van bounces along the small road very speedily. I look past Connor and out the window, watching the trees speed by at a pace that I think is illegal. I guess a plus side to having the walkers take over is that there aren't speed laws anymore. No cops to pull us over, even though I still feel uneasy going this fast. I'm not used to the roads being this empty. Everyone is quiet, so I'm left to my own thoughts again.

"We'll be there soon, I think." Riley breaks the silence in the van, his nose buried in the map of Georgia. He pours all of his focus into it. I can tell it's because he is trying to keep his mind off of Holly. By the sound of his voice that isn't working.

"That's great." Connor says in a tone that makes me consider whether or not he actually cares about the update on our location. "But we need a plan for when we actually get there. We've been really unprepared and that needs to stop before we lose people again."

Everyone mumbles in agreement. The army's unpreparedness at Fort Benning ultimately cost us that safe haven and a ton of lives. A repeat of that would be disastrous.

"I guess nows a good time to let y'all know that my older sister lived in Macon." Travis says. I'm not too sure what he's trying to get at here, neither is anyone else, but we let him continue anyway. "I visited a lot. Know that place inside out."

"That'll help." says April from the drivers seat, keeping his eyes on the road. Chris and her swapped places in the front not too long ago so he could nap and she could drive. She is not a very good driver. "Any idea where we could stay?"

"I figure the mall would be as good a place as any." Travis answers. He's obviously thought this through. "Lots of stores, wide and open. A bunch of restaurants too. If walkers ever get in theres lots of ways out and we could easily lock ourselves inside of empty stores."

This mall is sounding like a good idea. There could even be a food court, stocked food sounds like a good provision for the future in my opinion. Things are looking up for us now.

"According to my map this mall is pretty close to the outskirts of Macon." Riley beams, still focusing on his map. "At least I think so, the symbols on this map are huge. Anyway, we could get in there no trouble."

"We could even get new clothes!" I hear Rachel whisper excitedly to her brother behind me. It may sound a little bit silly, but that really is a good idea too. My current clothes smell like sweat and unpleasant walker odours, and they cling to me like a monkey clings to a tree branch. No one else smells very nice either. Our assorted scents make the van smell disgusting, even with most of the windows rolled down.

"We could be safe." I breathe. I almost feel like we're there already. Safe and secure without worrying about walkers. What a nice thought.

"We're not even there yet." Melanie groans, pulling her hair up into a bun. "Don't get comfortable. You never know what could be around the corner anymore. This mall could be completely filled with walkers for all we know."

An uncomfortable silence hangs in the air again.

"Plus we have to somehow get to it without being killed." she adds delicately.

"She's right." Riley nods. "I say once we get near Macon we hop out of the van to keep the walkers from hearing us. Then we walk. Don't wanna risk losing the place right after we get there."

I expect Connor to argue with the younger guy as usual, but he doesn't. Instead he remains quiet. They've finally agreed on something.

"We'll be there any time soon." finishes Riley, looking over the group from the back of the van.

We continue in silence again. This time it isn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence. It's a hopeful silence. We're all hoping. Hoping that in Macon we can set up a hiding place, a shelter, eventually a home. We can help other survivors like ourselves. We can stay alive.

I look outside through the front windshield. A lone walker stands on the other side of the road and we zoom by it without a second thought. The walkers are a normal thing now. A constant threat, but normal.

April turns a corner, and I can see it. The buildings in the distance rise over the landscape. It's Macon.

"I guess that means we start walking." April says unenthusiastically, nudging her sleeping husband next to her. She stops the car and pulls out the keys. "We may need this thing again someday." she answers everyone's odd looks.

"Wha?" Chris yawns. "What's up?"

"We're walking the rest of the way into Macon." Caroline explains from behind me. "It's far too dangerous to be driving this loud van into what could be a walker infested city. Travis claims that there is a large mall nearby, so we're going to try and set up some sort of camp inside of it."

"Sounds good to me." Chris smiles, opening his door.

Everyone hops out of the cramped, smelly van and stretches, preparing themselves for the long walk ahead.

The heat outside is still crushing. I lay my backpack on the ground in front of me and begin to rifle through it, looking for my water bottle. I feel the cool metal on my hand and pull it out of my bag. It's really light. I must not have much water left. I screw the lid off and take a sip, immediately quenching my thirst. I put the bottle back in my bag and notice that nearly everyone else is drinking as well. Looks like water is more of a problem than food right now.

Once everyone finishes organizing themselves, we stand in a misshapen circle, chattering excitedly about our possible new home.

"Okay everyone." Connor speaks over us, hushing us all. "This is serious stuff, remember that. We don't know what's happening in Macon right now. Could be walkers, could be safety. But just to be sure that we stay safe, I don't want anyone shooting a gun unless you absolutely need to. It will save us bullets and keep other walkers from being drawn to us. Am I making myself clear?"

We all agree and nod along with Connor. Riley doesn't say or do anything in reaction but still doesn't speak up. I guess the short lived period of agreement between them is over.

I hoist my bag over my shoulders and begin walking with the rest of the group. Slowly but surely, we move toward the town. Travis said earlier that the mall is on the outskirts, which is good because if Macon is overrun we won't have to go to far to find shelter.

Finally, we enter the city limits. Travis points out the mall towering over nearby houses about six blocks away. We look into the city. It's quiet. No cars, no people, no walkers. At least for now.

"Its... empty." my mother says quietly, analyzing the area. "There's nothing at all..."

"Maybe people locked themselves in their homes." I suggest, looking for a good reason why there would be no one outside. Then the evacuations cross my mind. "Or they all left for Atlanta..."

"That's a good thing for us, I guess." Chris shrugs. "None of those things around to-"

He's cut off by a piercing scream coming from further in town.

"Someone needs help!" April cries. "We need to help them!"

"Screw that!" Riley shouts at her. "We're risking ourselves again for people we don't know! This isn't like on the road!" he shouts, ignoring Chris and April and turning to us. "We don't know what their situation is! Maybe they're surrounded and going over is a waste of time! Maybe they're already dead! Going out of our way to help every single little person is going to get us killed! I guarantee it!"

"What are you thinking!?" Caroline snaps, losing her temper for the first time. "What if that were you? You cried out for help and nobody came?"

Riley glares at her in silence.

"You better hope that it's never up to me to ensure that you live." she hisses at him, staring him down intensely.

"Then lets not waste any more time!" Connor reminds us. The screams continue, and we follow them into town, towards the mall.

We pass the mall and the screams continue up ahead. Riley groans but continues to follow the rest of us.

Across the street from a pharmacy, three young women stand on the roof of a truck, screaming and crying. The truck is completely surrounded by walkers clawing and growling at them, ignoring us.

One of the women spots us, and cries out. "Help us! Help us please!"

"We don't have enough firepower to take out all of those walkers." my mother gasps. She's right. Even if we tried shooting the walkers would converge on us and we would be dead in no time.

"We don't have to take out all of them." Connor says cryptically. "We can take out a few. Let those girls jump down and make a break for the mall."

They continue to scream at us for help, drawing more walkers from around them.

"That's the worst idea I've ever heard." scoffs Riley. But he doesn't have any other suggestions.

Connor yells out his plan to the girls. "You have to keep screaming!" he adds. "They won't come to us and we'll be able to kill more!"

In response, the girls start screaming louder. They thump on the truck's roof and clap their hands together, making as much noise as possible.

Connor starts shooting first. The rest of us follow suit. Once the first couple of walkers fall, the others turn their focus on us.

"Shit." Travis gasps. The walkers ignore the three women and turn on us, slowly staggering in our direction.

"Change of plan!" Connor shouts to them. "Jump and we'll run to that mall!"

The first girl jumps off in a small space between two walkers. Quickly dodging them, she catches up to us and screams for the other girls to do the same. The second girl prepares herself to jump, slower than the first. As she goes to jump, she loses her footing on the edge and falls into the crowd of walkers, being devoured almost instantly.

"Emma! No!" both girls scream at the same time.

"You have to go now!" bellows Connor at the last girl. She shakes her head.

"I can't!" she screams, crying frantically. "I can't!"

"You have to, Tiffany!" the girl with us screams. "Please! You can do it!"

"No! I can't anymore, Jessica! Go with them back to the mall! Live!" Tiffany calls back, tears streaming down her face. I shoot desperately at some of the walkers approaching us, waiting for Tiffany to jump. Instead of jumping, Tiffany timidly lowers her arm to the crowd of walkers. They eagerly grab her and pull her down, tearing her apart like they did Emma.

The girl with us, Jessica, sobs heavily at the loss of her two friends. I grab her wrist and run toward the mall, following the others. We reach the door and Jessica pushes through us, still sobbing, and pounds on the door.

"Keith! Grace!" she cries out. "Help! Hurry!"

Are there people inside? Does this girl know them?

Jessica pounds on the door a little longer, and suddenly an older man and an older woman, both sporting grey hair and light blue eyes, rush to the door, the man holding a shotgun.

The woman, who I assume is Grace, unwraps chains from the inside doors and lets them fly open. Jessica runs into her arms, still sobbing, followed by the rest of us.

Grace quickly slams the door and ties the chains around the handles again, before really taking notice of us and staring, almost afraid, at us.

The man, who I'm guessing is Keith, holds a shotgun, pointed at Connor's chest.

"Who the hell are these people?" Keith demands, looking at Jessica, keeping his shotgun trained on us.


	17. Tough

"Well? Who the hell are you?" the old man demands, pointing his shotgun angrily at each member of our group. We stand in a ready position in front of him, backs to the now closed doors of the mall, hands on our guns, ready to fight or flee. He completely ignores the scared looking old woman next to him, holding the intensely sobbing young woman.

"Just… leave them be Keith." the woman says, after a long silence. She turns her head to us, tears glistening in her bright blue eyes. "If you've come to kill us… or take our things… just do it. We can't fight you."

Shock resonates in our group. Steal? Kill? Why would we possibly want to do that? I look toward Riley and Connor to explain to them, but they're as confused as I am. That's not a good sign.

"We don't kill people, ma'am. That's just wrong." Travis speaks up tenderly from behind me. The woman doesn't seem reassured. "Only the dead."

I can hear the walkers from the truck pile up on the chained door behind us. Opening that now would be suicide.

"That doesn't answer my question!" the old man, Keith, shouts at us. We turn to him again, greeted by a shotgun barrel pointed at my chest. "Who are you people!? Where are my two other granddaughters?" Anger burns in his eyes, I can see it. He stares intensely at us. Then, keeping his shotgun trained on us, he turns his head to the young sobbing woman. "Jessica, what happened?"

Jessica starts crying harder and harder, wheezing in the older woman's arms.

"They didn't make it." she cries, her voice muffled by the other lady's shoulder. She turns her head toward Keith, drying her eyes and sniffling. "We were surrounded, so we climbed on top of the truck." her voice trails, broken off by a new wave of sobs. "These people came" she continues, sniffling again and motioning to us. "They killed a whole bunch of them. I jumped off. But Tiffany and Emma took too long… they didn't make it…" Jessica throws her head back into the woman's shoulder. The older woman begins to cry too, hugging Jessica tightly.

I hear shuffling from the crowd behind me. My mother pushes through the group, finding herself right at the end of Keith's shotgun. Keith is tearing up too, but he keeps his focus on us. My mother calmly reaches her hand out toward Keith. I look at her, shocked. My timid, docile mother stepping up to diffuse a tense situation is not something I saw her doing before the end.

"Please." she says gently, holding her hand out as if to ask Keith to shake it. "We don't mean any harm. We're good people. We just need a place to stay."

"Grace?" Keith asks, looking at the older woman. She nods solemnly at him, wiping her eyes.

He analyzes us for a minute, his shotgun following his eyes as they brush over each member of our group. Travis, Melanie, Isaac and Rachel step out from behind everyone else and take in the mall.

"Whatever." he says, dejected. He lowers his shotgun, and I let out a sigh of relief. "You can stay here. Just… just leave us alone."

"Thank you so much." my mother says tenderly, touching Keith arm, moving back to stand with the rest of us. He stares stiffly at the ground.

Connor moves next to my mother and nods at her, whispering a thank you under his breath. He motions to the rest of us silently to follow him, and we do. As we pass the mourning trio, Isaac looks up at Keith and repeats my mother's thank you. This seems to break Keith into tears like his partners.

Once we are out of earshot from the other three, we stop walking and sit down near a dried up fountain. Connor walks next to my mother and looks at her in amazement, sitting next to her. "How can you be so calm after… after Fort Benning?" he asks her cautiously and silently, saying the 'Fort Benning' part quickly. I can still hear them, even though they probably think I can't. I listen in on their conversation.

She laughs lightly, looking back at him. "I'm not." she answers simply. "You could ask the same of Isaac or Rachel. They know that their sister and dad are safe because they're together, somewhere out there. You can see that they don't worry much. That's how I feel. Bruce… he's in a safer place now. He's with my other son. And I get comfort from that, even though I miss them more than anything. Besides, I still have a son down here to be with. It's not fair to him to see me crying and panicked all the time. That's not how I want to spend whatever time we have left together."

There, she said it. My dad is safe. He must be alive. I feel relieved.

Connor looks at her inquisitively. "I understand." he nods. "You're tougher than I thought."

My mother laughs. "Maybe I am."

The group sits back for the first time in a while. We start talking, planning, bonding. It's nice.

Isaac and Rachel lay back, and look up at the ceiling. "Woah!" they exclaim in unison, pointing upwards. I follow their fingers and immediately notice what they're looking at.

It's a large skylight. But they're not looking at the skylight. They're looking at what's past it. The sky above us is a beautiful pink, dotted with two small pinkish clouds just above us. The sun is setting. It's hard to believe that it's only been a day since Fort Benning.

Riley seems to notice this too. He sits on the opposite side of the fountain. His hands are on his forehead, pushing back his hair a little bit. His back is to us, but I can tell that he is crying. His back jerks up and down as he sniffs silently. He's remembering Holly. Just like I remember Ryan. But I don't cry about him anymore, for some reason. Maybe I've gotten tougher, like my mom. That's a weird thought.

"It's beautiful." Caroline observes, laying down next to the two teens, laughing frailly to herself. "Things down here on Earth might have gone to shit, but the sky remains the same. It's always the same." she smiles.

"If things stay the same for us, this mall will fall apart in a week." Melanie scoffs, rolling her eyes, but even she can't help but look up as well.

"Nah." Travis says, edging closer to Melanie on the fountain. She looks at him and raises and eyebrow. "This is different." Travis continues. "This mall has three floors. Walkers can't go up stairs. I think we're good here."

"Good point." Melanie smiles, edging closer to him as well.

Everyone looks up at the sky in fascination. I try to ignore Riley's pained sobs behind us, but I can't. It's heartbreaking. But I don't go to him. He'll learn to cope.

I sneak a look at Travis and Melanie. They look up at the sky together, but Travis's arm is wrapped around Melanie's shoulder. I never really imagined that anyone out here could possibly find it in themselves to hook up.

I glance at Chris and April, who do the same. Chris manages to steal some kisses from April, who giggles at him. They're happy together. I'm happy for them. At the same time I almost feel bad, because more is at stake for them. Losing the life of your most precious loved one… or your own. The thought of losing your spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend must nearly be as bad as the thought of losing a sibling or a parent. Or anyone.

I hear Riley take a deep breath from behind me. I look back at him just in time to watch him stand up and make his way over to the rest of us. He smiles as he reaches us, but it's possibly the most forced smile I've ever seen. His messed up hair and puffy eyes do him no justice.

"Well would you look at that." he says, putting his hands on his hips. "People are actually happy. How nice."

"Right?" Chris agrees, apparently missing out on Riley's pained expression and forced happy voice. "I feel like this is a good place."

I look back at Keith, Grace, and Jessica near the doors. They've stopped hugging each other, and they just sit cross legged across from each other. They seem to be talking, but I can tell even from here that they're crying. They're oblivious to the walkers banging on the doors behind them, but they don't care. They seem to know that the doors are stable. The trio pick themselves up and head to the nearest staircase, taking their time walking up it and disappearing from my sight.

"Yeah." I say, glancing back at the walkers attacking the door. "Happy days."

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter. I've been swamped with homework and studying lately.**


	18. Memories

"Liam. Wake up, man." a voice cuts through my surprisingly dreamless sleep, and pulls me back into reality. I open my eyes slowly, feeling irritated that someone would want to wake me up for no reason.

Travis hovers above me, shaking me a little bit once I open my eyes. "Come on, man. Wake up."

We arrived at the mall three days ago. After we sat around the dry fountain and sappily reminisced, Connor eagerly went back into strategy mode by strongly suggesting that we move onto the third floor and into the food court. Out of the way of Keith, Grace, and Jessica, yet still secure and with access to food. We've been camped up here ever since, carefully rationing our food and avoiding the other group unless we absolutely needed to talk to them. We gave them space to grieve. Riley is still torn over Holly's death. Our calm surroundings have taken away his source of adrenaline and distractions, which I guess leave him with his sad thoughts.

I groan and roll onto my stomach. "What do you want?" I ask him, my voice muffled by the floor.

"Your mom wanted me to get you." he answers, nudging my side with his foot. "Something about chores."

I groan even louder and manage to peel myself from the floor. I look behind me to say something to Travis, but he's disappeared. What a weird guy. I wonder why he and Melanie decided to hook up.

I drag myself over to the side of the food court where the women sleep, near a Subway and a Thai restaurant. Carefully avoiding several sleeping figures, I make my way over to behind the Subway counter where I spot my mother waiting for me.

"Our turn for stock." she says simply, tapping her fingers on the counter. I feel like I'm about to place an order or something.

"Remind me what that is again?" I ask, tiredly scratching my head, focusing on her fingers.

"We're checking how much food each restaurant has. Connor assigned us Subway last night, remember?"

I vaguely remember hearing Connor say my name late last night, but not much else. I was really tired.

"I guess so." I answer, looking up at her face. Somehow her eyes look worn out, even though she smiles at me.

I move into the back room and begin to rummage through boxes of vegetables, cold meats and breads. I feel like a month ago there would have been normal people doing the exact thing. I try to forget that. "We have enough here to last a while." my mother remarks from behind me. I turn to look at her but she is still looking through boxes.

A silence that never existed between us suddenly hangs heavily in the room, as we sort through the boxes. I just don't understand. What is wrong with her? I look through a final box. Satisfied with the total number of nearly full or unopened boxes on my side, I announce my number, hoping to ease the tension. "23 on this side."

I wait for my mother to give her final number. I give her a moment to recount, maybe finish.

"23." I repeat, turning to look at her. "Hey, whats your total of— oh." I cut myself off mid sentence. My mother leans on a few boxes, her back to me. She quietly cries into her hands.

"Mom…" I say, putting a hand on her shoulder. She shakes it off. Sniffing, she stands up straight and looks at me.

"I told myself I wouldn't cry over him anymore." she says, scolding herself. "So many people have died already… but he was different." she's looking at me, but she doesn't seem to be talking to me.

"Who, Ryan?" I ask, recalling the gruesome death of my brother. It hurts to recall.

"You still don't remember." she laughs weakly, ignoring my question. "I tried telling you. But every time… someone was in the way… Caroline, Connor… even Travis volunteered to wake you instead of me. They try to keep us apart because they know I'll tell you."

"Tell me what?" I press, a little irritated. My friends are keeping something from me, and I deserve to know either way.

"They originally wanted you to take stock with Melanie, you know." she continues, ignoring me again. "Trying to keep us apart. I negotiated with her while she was half asleep. That made it easy. I'm not letting them keep me away from my own son anymore."

"I have no idea what you're getting at, mom." I shake my head. She's going through something, that much is clear. Keeping it bottled up until now can't be healthy for her.

"He's dead, Liam." she sighs, wiping her eyes and finally looking up at me. "No matter how much you deny it because you can't remember, your father is dead. All we have is each other. I don't care anymore, Liam. I'm not letting them pry us apart anymore because we need each other."

I look at her. My head begins to hurt. I never noticed anyone intentionally keeping us apart before, but I guess it makes sense. And my father… I take a deep breath. A memory is coming back. The last piece of my memory puzzle. I'm in the back of the mail truck… looking back. My father's face, defiant as ever, suddenly falling over as a door breaks off its hinges on top of him. Walkers pile in. I can remember it now.

"I know. I know." I say finally. Tears stream down my face and we are entangled in a tight embrace, crying onto each other. I look over at her and through my tear shrouded eyes see Riley in the doorway. He backs out slowly, and I ignore him anyway. I need time to remember… and eventually forget again.

* * *

"I guess I'm not as tough as I tried to convince people." my mother laughs as we leave the stock room. Everyone is awake now, just milling around and doing nothing in particular. I notice some eyes flash toward my mother and I but look away just as quickly. Travis and Melanie talk with Chris and April. Isaac reads a book and Rachel drags a pile of clothes behind her toward her side of the food court. Connor and Caroline are nowhere to be seen. Riley sits alone at a table, staring at it.

"No one is." I smirk at her. "We're all the same on the inside."

She rolls her eyes. Just like the mother I knew before. "Anyways, are you sure Riley was watching us?" she asks me, looking in his direction. I had told her that I saw Riley in the doorway, but she didn't believe me. "You were probably seeing things."

"I'm sure I saw him." I say. "And it makes sense. He's probably lonely. His last real friend around here just hooked up with Melanie and he lost his girlfriend." I look in Travis's direction.

"That's not really an excuse for spying on us." my mother brushes off my idea.

"I guess not, but you can't deny that he looks lonely." I stop walking and turn to look at her. She does the same.

"Then he needs a friend." she says. "Go talk to him. Your frail old mother will survive without you. Besides, I need to spend some time alone anyway. To remember him, y'know?"

"Right." I agree with her. Everyone needs someone. Out of the corner of my eye, Connor and Caroline reemerge, each of them holding a box of cereal.

"Look what we got!" Connor calls out, everyone turning toward him and Caroline. They hold up their boxes, and everyone moves toward them, even Riley.

"Where did you get those?" an awe-struck Isaac asks, interested.

"Grabbed them from a convenience store a block away." Connor answers, shaking the box a little bit. I don't recognize the brand but I can smell it through the box and I am hungry.

"Why did you go to a convenience store?" Chris demands. "You could have gotten killed."

"To scout the place out. Anyway, I wonder how that business survived with the mall just around the corner." Connor responds cooly. Chris seems a little irritated still.

"Economics is a wild beast." Caroline answers Connor, holding back a laugh.

* * *

"So, before all of this" Connor starts, shoving his mouth full of dry cereal using a soup ladle, "what did everyone do for a living? What were your hobbies? I'm curious." He uses the ladle as a microphone, and starts speaking into it like a sports caster. "I was in the army, obviously. Even though I hated it. To be honest I was only training before shit went down. I was an only child. My guilty pleasure was chess, I played it with a couple of the mechanics in my spare time." He passes the ladle to Caroline next to him.

"I was a medical researcher at the CDC." Caroline says. "I never really had a social life or did anything outside of work. My family moved here from South Korea when I was three. My younger brother was born when I turned thirteen, and when I wasn't doing homework or moping over how antisocial I was I usually teased him. Last I heard from him he was delivering pizzas in Atlanta. His name was Glenn. We were never very close." She looks down at her cereal and passes the ladle to Melanie.

"I worked at the CDC too, except I was just an intern." Melanie shrugs. "I lived with my parents in Atlanta and went to school there. I was in a lot of debt. I had three older sisters, two older brothers and one younger sister. We were pretty poor and couldn't afford college. Somehow my parents thought the solution to being poor was 'have more kids'. When shit went down Caroline and I were shipped out to Fort Benning to help people there. Now I'm here." she passes the ladle to Travis.

"Played football in Alabama." Travis says. "I kinda sucked but it got me through school. I worked at some shipping facility carrying around boxes and other heavy things. I had a sister here in Macon, I dunno if she made it out. I was on a road trip with Riley and some other friends when it all started." He passes the ladle to April.

"I was a teacher back in Fort Valley." April sighs. "Before I used to party and get really wasted all the time. But going to work with a hangover on Mondays is not promotion worthy behaviour, so I sobered up. My family was pretty small, just me my parents and my brother. My brother suggested online dating to me, because that's how he found his wife, so I tried it. Went through a couple of creeps before Chris." she smiles, nuzzling up to him and handing him the ladle.

"I was also a teacher." Chris smiles, letting April hug him. "I was born and raised in Seattle. I was an only child, so my parents were pretty overbearing and protective. That really sucked when my teenage boy hormones kicked in. I wanted freedom and they wanted restrictions, not a good mix. I put up with it until I was able to move away for college. Then I started online dating as a way to put myself out there. Found a cute girl in Georgia, moved out here to be with her. Then we broke up and now I'm with April." he laughs, passing the ladle to me.

"Just a student." I shrug. "I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life after high school, to be honest. I just thought of hanging out with friends and trying to live life to the fullest. I guess that was a good choice, considering what the world is now. I had a brother but he's... yeah. Same with my dad." I nod and pass the ladle to my mother. I ignore the expressions of shock at my remembering my father.

"I was a lawyer in Columbus." she says, also ignoring the shock. "Born and raised there. I really love that city. When I was young I always wanted to fly off to England and marry a prince and become a queen. I was really into dress up even in my teens, and I was kinda teased for that. I made up for it by finding my prince here in Georgia... and having kids and..." she trails off, sniffling, handing the ladle to Riley.

"I'm from Alabama. Dropped out of college and went on a road trip." Riley says abruptly and silently, thrusting the ladle into Isaac's hands.

"I was starting high school at Fort Benning." Isaac says. "That was scary. Mainly the older kids scared me. We used to move across the country because of dad's work. Then mom got tired of it and left, I guess." he quietly hands the ladle to Rachel.

"Middle school sucked." Rachel spits. "Teachers sucked and homework sucked. Isaac and Katie sucked. I wanted to be a biologist when I grew up because I like dissecting animals. I'm pretty sure mom cheated on dad which sucks. But whatever." Rachel hands the ladle back to Connor.

We've all finished our cereal and sit in silence.

"Good session, I guess." Connor says, scooting away from Rachel uncomfortably.


End file.
